New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani Shares His 12 Favorite Taylor Swift Songs

When New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was asked last month if he would attend Taylor Swift’s rumored July wedding to Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden, his answer was simple: no, but he would listen to “Only the Young” in their honor. The response led New York Times reporter Emma G. Fitzsimmons to dig deeper, unearthing a list of the mayor’s 12 favorite Swift songs.

Mamdani’s selection, published in the Times, leans into the singer’s catalog with a fluency that goes beyond a politician’s obligatory cultural reference. Alongside stadium staples like “Love Story” and “Cruel Summer,” the list includes “Dress,” “I Know Places,” and “august” — tracks that signal a listening history rather than a carefully curated image. The mayor told Fitzsimmons he had a Swift phase in 2021, when these songs dominated his most-played lists.

The list arrives amid a wider cultural moment for Swift, whose reported Independence Day weekend wedding has kept tabloids and news organizations in speculation mode. Mamdani’s playlist doesn’t comment on that, but it does sketch a specific portrait of a public figure whose fandom predates the current noise. There is no “Shake It Off,” no “Blank Space” — a quiet rejection of the obvious.