Welcome To New York – English Lyrics

• By: Taylor Swift
• Album: 1989 (Deluxe)

Lyrics & Translation

Discover the vibrant energy of New York City through Taylor Swift's "Welcome to New York." This synth-pop anthem celebrates new beginnings and the courage to chase your dreams. Learn how the song reflects Swift's personal journey and embodies the spirit of reinvention, making it a perfect way to explore themes of change and optimism in language.

[English]

Walking through a crowd

The village is aglow

Kaleidoscope of loud

Heartbeats under coats

Everybody here

Wanted something more

Searching for a sound we hadn't heard before

And it said

Welcome to New York

It's been waiting for you

Welcome to New York

Welcome to New York

Welcome to New York

It's been waiting for you

Welcome to New York

Welcome to New York

Welcome to New York

It's a new soundtrack

I could dance to this beat, beat

Forevermore

The lights are so bright

But they never blind me, me

Welcome to New York

It's been waiting for you

Welcome to New York

Welcome to New York

When we first dropped our bags on apartment floors

Took our broken hearts

Put them in a drawer

Everybody here was someone else before

And you can want who you want

Boys and boys and girls and girls

Welcome to New York

It's been waiting for you

Welcome to New York

Welcome to New York

Welcome to New York

It's been waiting for you

Welcome to New York

Welcome to New York

It's a new soundtrack

I could dance to this beat, beat

Forevermore

The lights are so bright

But they never blind me, me

Welcome to New York (New York)

It's been waiting for you

Welcome to New York

Welcome to New York

Like any great love it keeps you guessing

Like any real love

It's ever changing

Like any true love

It drives you crazy

But you know you wouldn't change anything anything

Anything

Welcome to New York

It's been waiting for you

Welcome to New York

Welcome to New York

Welcome to New York

It's a new soundtrack

I could dance to this beat

The lights are so bright but they never blind me

Welcome to New York

New soundtrack

It's been waiting for you

Welcome to New York

The lights are so bright but they never blind me

Welcome to New York

So bright

They never blind me

Welcome to New York

Welcome to New York

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
crowd /kraʊd/ B1	noun - a large group of people gathered together
aglow /əˈɡloʊ/ C1	adjective - glowing with light or excitement
kaleidoscope /kəˈlaɪdəˌskoʊp/ C2	noun - a constantly changing pattern or sequence of objects or elements
heartbeats /ˈhɑːrtˌbiːts/ B2	noun - the pulsation of the heart measured during a cycle
sound /saʊnd/ A2	noun - a noise, noise as produced by someone or something
beat /biːt/ A2	noun - the rhythm of music or a regular pulse verb - to hit repeatedly
bright /braɪt/ B2	adjective - giving off a lot of light
waiting /ˈweɪtɪŋ/ B2	verb - to stay in a place expecting something
apartment /əˈpɑːrt.mənt/ B2	noun - a set of rooms for someone to live in on one level of a building
broken /ˈbroʊ.kən/ C1	adjective - damaged or not working properly
drawer /drɔːr/ C2	noun - a sliding storage compartment in furniture
change /tʃeɪndʒ/ B1	verb - to become different noun - the process of becoming different
love /lʌv/ B1	noun - a strong feeling of affection and care verb - to feel deep affection for someone

Key Grammar Structures

• Walking through a crowd

  ➔ Present Participle as Adverbial Modifier

  ➔ The phrase "Walking through a crowd" modifies the implied subject (I/we), explaining how the action of experiencing New York occurs. It acts like an adverb, describing the manner or circumstance of the main verb (experiencing the city).

• Everybody here wanted something more

  ➔ Indefinite Pronoun + Past Simple

  ➔ "Everybody" is an indefinite pronoun referring to all the people in a group. "Wanted" is the past simple tense of the verb "want," indicating a desire that existed in the past.

• Searching for a sound we hadn't heard before

  ➔ Past Perfect Tense in Relative Clause

  ➔ "hadn't heard" is the past perfect tense. It indicates that the action of not hearing the sound occurred before the action of searching for it.

• It's been waiting for you

  ➔ Present Perfect Continuous Tense

  ➔ "It's been waiting" is the present perfect continuous tense, which describes an action that started in the past and is still continuing or has recently finished. It emphasizes the duration of the waiting.

• I could dance to this beat, beat

  ➔ Modal Verb of Ability/Possibility

  ➔ "Could" expresses the ability or possibility of dancing to the beat. It implies that the speaker is capable of dancing to the rhythm.

• But they never blind me, me

  ➔ Simple Present Tense with Emphasis

  ➔ The repetition of "me" after the clause adds emphasis to the statement. The simple present tense, "blind," describes a general truth or characteristic of the lights in New York, but the emphasis on "me" stresses the speaker's resilience to the overwhelming environment.

• everybody here was someone else before

  ➔ Past Simple Tense with 'before'

  ➔ The use of "was" (past simple) indicates a state that existed in the past. The addition of "before" clarifies that this former identity preceded their current existence in New York. While not requiring the past perfect, it implies a shift from a previous state to the current one. The past simple describes the state in the past.

• Like any great love it keeps you guessing

  ➔ Simile Structure

  ➔ The sentence uses 'Like' to compare New York with 'any great love.' This structure highlights similarities between the two, implying that New York, like a great love, is unpredictable and full of surprises.