--- title: Taylor Swift's "Welcome to New York" Donation Silences the Haters description: The pop singer gives New York City public schools a major gift canonical: https://time.com/3546081/taylor-swift-welcome-to-new-york-public-schools/ author: Daniel D'Addario article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-29T16:19:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:05:23.829Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Taylor Swift's "Welcome to New York" Donation Silences the Haters og:description: The pop singer gives New York City public schools a major gift og:url: https://time.com/3546081/taylor-swift-welcome-to-new-york-public-schools/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc93e5da895b899a/69876335cd1bba1c6d6f2e0d/ap896222295783.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Taylor Swift og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Taylor Swift's "Welcome to New York" Donation Silences the Haters twitter:description: The pop singer gives New York City public schools a major gift twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc93e5da895b899a/69876335cd1bba1c6d6f2e0d/ap896222295783.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Taylor Swift Silences "Welcome to New York" Critics, Donates to Public Schools > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Daniel D'Addario](https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Oct 29, 2014 4:19 PM UTC  Taylor Swift performs on stage at CBS Radio's second annual We Can Survive concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday, Oct. 24, 2014, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Invision/AP) Taylor Swift performs on stage at CBS Radio's second annual We Can Survive concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday, Oct. 24, 2014, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Invision/AP)Todd Williamson—Todd Williamson/Invision/AP  by [Daniel D'Addario](https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Oct 29, 2014 4:19 PM UTC “Welcome to New York,” the first track on Taylor Swift’s new album _1989_, has gotten some blowback from those who’ve lived in New York for longer, and under less luxurious circumstances, than Swift herself (who bought an apartment in Manhattan earlier this year). The _Village Voice_ [described](http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2014/10/why%5Ftaylor%5Fswifts%5Fwelcome%5Fto%5Fnew%5Fyork%5Fis%5Fbullshit.php) the city of Swift’s song as “generic, flat, and lifeless a New York as has ever existed in pop culture,” saying the song could as easily be titled “Welcome to Des Moines.” That the tourism department of New York City named Swift a [“global welcome ambassador”](http://op-talk.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/taylor-swifts-unwelcome-p-r-campaign/?ref=opinion) this week only added to the mockery: Who was Swift to be singing about a city in which she’d just arrived? But those who thought Swift would be silenced forgot how good she is at [shaking things off](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfWlot6h%5FJM). Swift announced, in an appearance on _The View_ today, that she would be donating all of the proceeds from sales of “Welcome to New York” to the city’s public schools. It’s both generous and a canny P.R. move, immediately obviating the first significant criticism she’s faced in the _1989_ roll-out. > [](https://twitter.com/taylornation13/status/527486222537863168) This will likely do nothing to assuage the critics of Swift’s aesthetics or the role she’s taken on as a spokesperson for city tourism. (The haters, as they say, gonna hate.) But it’s a declaration of her citizenship that would seem to solve the conundrum of how Swift has the gall to sing about New York. She may not know the ins and outs of ordering sandwiches at bodegas and may not have a MetroCard, but Swift has committed what is likely to be a _huge_ amount of money to bettering the lives of those who have lived for years in her adopted city; for all Swift can be critiqued as making New York seem dull and safe to outsiders and potential tourists, she’s also set to do more than most of her critics in changing life in the city. Swift’s long taken inspiration from her life in writing her songs. She’s now putting her lyrics to work in her day-to-day life as, yes, a New Yorker. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3546081/taylor-swift-welcome-to-new-york-public-schools/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3546081/taylor-swift-welcome-to-new-york-public-schools/"},"headline":"Taylor Swift Silences \"Welcome to New York\" Critics, Donates to Public Schools","datePublished":"2014-10-29T16:19:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:05:23.829Z","description":"She may not be a native New Yorker, but Swift's already giving back to her adopted city","url":"https://time.com/3546081/taylor-swift-welcome-to-new-york-public-schools/","keywords":["Music","Taylor Swift","1989"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc93e5da895b899a/69876335cd1bba1c6d6f2e0d/ap896222295783.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel D'Addario","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc93e5da895b899a/69876335cd1bba1c6d6f2e0d/ap896222295783.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Taylor Swift","caption":"Taylor Swift","creditText":"Todd Williamson—Todd Williamson/Invision/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3546081/taylor-swift-welcome-to-new-york-public-schools/","name":"Taylor Swift Silences \"Welcome to New York\" Critics, Donates to Public Schools"}}]}] ```