Junior Varsity Spins Love in “New York”
Mateo Arango
Junior Varsity’s “New York” offers a turbulent yet heartfelt exploration of love in the chaotic landscape of the city. The LA-based trio, composed of Greg Aram, Zach Michel, and Brooke Danaher, produced a track that feels equally intimate and expansive, capturing the vulnerability and uncertainty of love amidst the endless motion of New York City.
The song opens with a smooth, reverb-soaked guitar that sets the tone for a track brimming with emotional tension. As the track progresses, driving percussion and swirling synths reflect the whirlwind of emotions involved in navigating love in an environment where everything seems too fast. The chorus perfectly captures this duality, with its fast-paced, urgent tempo mirroring the city’s frenetic energy, while the verses slow down, offering more subtle and intimate glimpses of connection. The calmness and stillness of these fleeting moments particularly resonate in the track.
In one of the song’s most evocative moments, Danaher playfully sings, “You say you don’t want it”, a line that cuts to the heart of the song’s narrative. The hesitance to fully embrace vulnerability despite the overwhelming desire for connection is a tension that drives the song forward, making “New York” not just a love song, but a meditation on the complexities of emotional risk. Junior Varsity balances this lyrical depth with a raw and immediate sound, yet polished in its execution.
“New York” captures the disorienting beauty of falling in love, not just in the city itself but within the emotional labyrinth of someone else. It’s a love song for those who are afraid to fall. With its honest storytelling and captivating sonic layers, the track is another powerful step forward in Junior Varsity’s musical evolution, proving that the trio isn’t afraid to delve deep into the emotional terrain of modern love.
In the music video for "New York," directed by Matthew Dillon Cohen, Junior Varsity is thrown into a vibrant, disorienting world that perfectly captures the emotional tension of the track. The video uses a dizzying backdrop of a roller coaster ride to mirror the whirlwind of feelings central to the song. As the ride spins, Junior Varsity performs while being pinned to the walls by the force of the rotating drum. It’s a visual reflection of the push and pull of love—capturing both the thrill and the disorientation that comes with giving yourself to someone in a world that never stops moving.
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