A Second New York Anthem, Another Generation: „Empire State of Mind“

Symbolic image: Times Square at night · Photo: CC BY-SA 2.0

⏱ 2 min · Portrait · As of: 30 July 2026, 22:05

No sooner have we crowned Frank Sinatra and „New York, New York“ the city's anthem than we have to correct ourselves: New York does not have one anthem but several – every generation writes its own. For the 2000s it is „Empire State of Mind“, and it is carried by a woman: Alicia Keys.

Listen: „Empire State of Mind“ – Alicia Keys & Jay-Z (official video)

An anthem for a new era

„Empire State of Mind“ was released in 2009, rapped by Jay-Z, on his album The Blueprint 3. The title plays on New York's nickname – the state of New York is the „Empire State“. The song shot to the top of the US charts and stayed there for five weeks – Jay-Z's first number one ever.

The voice that carries the song

What made the song famous above all is the chorus sung by Alicia Keys – that soaring, ever-returning „New York“ that fills whole stadiums. Keys, herself born in New York, later recorded her own version, „Empire State of Mind“ „Part II“, with no rap at all, just piano and voice. That turned the duet, once and for all, into her song too.

In context: Sinatra's „New York, New York“ and Keys' „Empire State of Mind“ are more than 30 years apart – and yet both tell the same story: New York as a place of longing, as a promise that you can make it. Anthems do not age; each generation simply adds a new one. Our Sinatra portrait is here.

Symbolic image · Photo: Times Square at night, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Out of respect for personality and copyright, we show no photos of the artists and quote no lyrics.