New York, New York: The Empire State of Mind

Muhammad Taufiq al Makmun, Ardianna Nuraeni

Abstract


This paper aims at reading the two songs entitled New York, New York and The Empire State of Mind to see how the city of New York is perceived and campaigned by the songs. It is an American popular cultural studies research discussing the two songs which are analysed as popular media works to deliver messages to the audiences. Inge’s theory on popular cultural works is employed to examine the form, function, and methods of evaluation in a way that the songs are treated as readable cultural texts. Semiotics is also employed as a relevant approach to interpret the data. In addition, Socio-cultural approach is applied in this study by considering American history that is useful to have a deeper discussion to examine how the city of New York is defined and spread by the media through the songs. The finding shows that the two popular songs see New York as a representation of America to hold the values of finding dreamland, conquering the wilderness, and achieving individual success in a modern materialistic capitalistic America. Released in two different eras, the songs are functioned as media voicing the American thoughts and feeling toward New York City as the today’s place of dream and reshaping the society itself as well.

 

Keywords: New York, America, popular culture, media works, song.


Full Text:

PDF

References


Alexis, de T. (2000). Democracy in America. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Baker, C. (2005). Cultural studies theory and practice (2nd ed.). London: Sage Publications.

Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies. London: Cape

Campbell, N., & Kean, A. (2006). American cultural studies: An introduction to American culture. London: Routledge.

David, L. J. (1993). American popular music. Madison: Wm. C. Brown Communication, Inc.

D’haen, T., Giles, P., Kadir, D., & Zamora, L.P. (2005). How far is America from here?. Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi.

Inge, T., & Dennis, H. (2002). The Greenwood guide to American popular culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08821127.2003.10677951

Keys, A., & Jay-Z. (2009). Empire state of mind, New York city: Roc the mic studios, oven studios. Song written by A. Hunte, A. Keys, A. Shuckburgh, B. Keyes, J. Sewell, S. Carter, S. Robinson.

Lankevich, G. (2018). New York city. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-City

Lauter, P. (2001). From Walden Pond to Jurassic Park activism, culture, and American studies. London: Duke University Press.

Lipshutz, J. (2017). Alicia keys on the ‘empire state of mind’ chorus: ‘It’s about the hope that New York represents’. Retrieved from https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/7775048/alicia-keys-interview-empire-state-of-mind-chorus-jay-z

Minnelli, L. (1977). New York New York, New York city: Reprise records. Song written by John Kander and Fred Ebb.

Nocera, J. (2015). How ‘New York, New York’ went to the top of the heap. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/12/sports/baseball/how-new-york-new-york-became-a-no-1-at-yankees-games.html

Nye, J. S. Jr. (2004, May/June). The decline of America’s soft power. Retrieved from https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2004-05-01/decline-americas-soft-power

Rydell, R. W., & Kroes, R. (2005). Buffalo Bill in Bologna the Americanization of the world, 1869-1922. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Scheurer, T. E. (1991). Born in the USA: The myth of America in popular music from colonial times to present. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi.

Sinatra, F. (1980). New York New York, New York city: Reprise records. Song written by John Kander and Fred Ebb.

Sisario, B. (2009, November). Jay-Z’s bid for king of the hill. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/fashion/08empire.html

Smith, H. N. (2008). Virgin land: The American west as symbol and myth. Harvard: Harvard University Press.

Spitzer, J., & Walters, R. G. (2003, June). Making sense of american popular song. History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web. Retrieved from http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/Songs/

Starr, L., & Waterman, C. (2006). American popular music the rock years. New York: Oxford University Press.

Turner, F. J. (1997). Copy of the frontispiece from the 1935 edition of the frontier in American history, published by Henry Holt and Company, New York. Retrieved from http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/turner/tpic.html

Verspieren, V. (2017). Rock ‘n’ roll in the Soviet Union 1955-1991: Reflections of a divided society. Retrieved from https://pilotscholars.up.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=hst_studpubs


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


e-ISSN: 2289-1528