There are several New Yorkers who aren’t thrilled with the NYC and Co. choice of a new Global Welcome Ambassador, but their arguments may be no more than moot. Taylor Swift is the new face of New York City tourism.
There’s a gig for ya. Move to a city, buy a 20 million dollar penthouse, and within months be named that city’s Global Welcome Ambassador.
For most New Yorkers, especially the natives, this is a joke. Twister Sister front man, Dee Snider, who was raised in Queens, thinks the announcement was ridiculous. You can imagine Dee Snider throwing his face into his palms, then exclaiming, “WTF!? Really!?”
Snider suggested Jerry Seinfeld as an option if the city needed a big name, but Dee, like so many others, is missing the point. People who aren’t from New York don’t care about someone who was born and raised in the city.
Taylor Swift is a global brand. NYC and Co. want to push New York City even harder to the global community. Make it the destination for travel in the United States. And Taylor will also encourage all of the teeny boppers to move to New York City, and pay rent in one of the really crappy apartments that are so overpriced it should be illegal.
Still, if I were a New Yorker (I once was), this announcement would be a definite chapper. In no way, shape or form does Taylor Swift represent the city of New York. The only thing… maybe… Her height. And the city has tall buildings.
Her song, Welcome to New York, is so ridiculously over-produced and lyrically mundane it sounds like something a high school student would write for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Still, who in their right mind would be lured to the city because of Taylor Swift? NYC and Co. couldn’t hire one of their fine, native filmmakers to put together a spot that sells the city as one of the world’s greatest experiences?
I digress. It’s time to get on with the day… after I book a flight to New York.
