I like New York a lot and I mostly really dislike these two. I like NY more than Shake it Off honestly, I'd put these on more of a Bad Blood level which was by far the worst song on 1989.
I swapped out Bad Blood for New Romantics. I think WTNY is a great opener for that album, the only good thing about this new song being the opener is that I can easily skip it and start at track 2.
Listening to the new song again and I feel the same way as I did earlier but more strongly. I like the chorus even more and hate the verses/bridge even more. I find it difficult to listen to for the most part.
Shake it Off is one of the best Taylor songs let alone on 1989. Welcome to NY is fun. It's probably a bad song but by any metric I'm knocking the songwriting on that these two are getting annihilated. Fwiw I think look what you made me do is fun bad as well. This one is just straight mediocre.
I really can't stand LWYMMD and it's been stuck in my head all day. The pre-chorus and chorus just keep looping in my head and it refuses to stop. Someone help me.
LWYMMD didn't stick with me at all. This has not left my head all day. It is ridiculously solid. None of her albums are perfect, but Red and 1989 are both pretty close. New Romantics over Bad Blood would've made it a masterpiece for me, and Stay Stay Stay is one of the worst songs in her discog. New York is a great song, and a great opener.
The production on this one is definitely more compelling than on LWYMMD which puts it a tier above (for what that's worth) but from a songwriting standpoint imo both have been big time lacking.
I like Welcome To New York and got very emotional when it played at the beginning of The Secret Life Of Pets her Welcome To New York PSA was so cringey though "bodegas are our friends"
Neither song is uniquely Taylor Swift to me. Even when 1989 and Red had elements of other styles and sounds, most songs felt sonically hers. These two are sounds other people have done with way more musical personality. The only thing that feels Taylor Swift to me on these songs is the lyrics, but they aren't good lyrics so that's a wash for me. I'm still certain that the album will have a handful of songs I dig a lot. Just not into what's released so far.
I totally get people's complaints about the song, but it's also been stuck in my head all day so I guess Taylor wins haha
Shake it Off/Bad Blood/Welcome to NY are all bottom tier tracks on 1989. I'd throw in How You Get the Girl (which would feel more at home on Fearless) and I Know Places. Everything else is pretty great.