By Charlie Maybee
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New York-based comedian, writer, and musician, Kareem Rahma, is back with his third single and new music video titled “New Year New York,” which sees him move away from the purely comedic songs that came before it.
Now, that’s not to say that there isn’t humor involved in this song. It’s still there, but now, there’s a layer of sadness that complicates the natural inclination to laugh. When asked to describe the song, Rahma responded, “That feeling when all your friends move to LA, and you’re kind of jealous, but you refuse to leave NYC no matter how shitty it gets.” The imagery of Rahma singing in the shower with a loofa microphone projected over a backdrop of the inside of a moving subway car is about as wacky and New Yorker as you can get.
The video acts as a montage of New York clichés as it charges forward while various images, gifs, and videos of things like pigeons, New York magazine, iconic city skylines, subway signs, rats dancing on piles of trash and pizza (a nice ode to the infamous pizza rat), and much more appear in the background. Truly, the song is a lamentation of loneliness and isolation; undoubtedly fueled partially by COVID fatigue.
The amount of cheese is purposeful, in that it distracts from those underlying desolate feelings. You can feel the conflict in the chorus, as Rahma sings, “New Year New York / I don’t need anybody / No need to pretend / Let’s go and leave the party / I don’t want to make friends with anybody.” Ironically, he’s the one staying at the party when everyone else seems to be leaving, but at least he will always have pizza rat.
“New Year New York” is available on major streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. The accompanying music video is also available on YouTube. Follow our Alchemical Weekly Spotify Playlist for more great music featured on the site.
Charlie Maybee is a dancer, musician, educator, and writer based in Charleston, South Carolina who currently teaches with the Dance Program at the College of Charleston. His primary work as an artist is with his performing collective, Polymath Performance Project, through which he makes interdisciplinary performance art that centers tap dance as the primary medium of expression and research. He also currently plays rhythm guitar for the Charleston-based punk band, Anergy, and releases music as a solo artist under the name Nox Eterna.
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Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
