When you think of New York City landmarks, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square and the Brooklyn Bridge all come to mind. But there’s one quintessential part of the city that often gets overlooked, despite the fact that countless locals use it pretty much every day: the subway.
Love it or hate it, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s citywide public transit system is a crucial part of what makes New York, well, New York. With tracks stretching across the five boroughs, the subway is more than just something that takes you to work (whether or not it’s always on time is another story). It also serves as the backdrop to some of life’s biggest moments living in the Big Apple — or at least, it gets you to and from them.
For those reasons and more, several musicians have at some point paid tribute to the trains that fuel NYC in their music videos. One of them, Chappell Roan, named an entire song after the the mode of transport — 2025’s “The Subway” — naturally pairing it with a visual centered around the singer passing in and out of train cars while trekking around the city. Other musicians who’ve similarly featured the underground passages in their videos include modern stars such as Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter, as well as iconic figures of generations past like Michael Jackson and Rod Stewart.
Though New Yorkers like to give the subways grief sometimes, most can probably agree that the city wouldn’t be what it is without them. See which artists have honored that legacy in their music videos below — and as always, stand clear of the closing doors, please.
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Avril Lavigne, “My Happy Ending”
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Year: 2004
Lavigne filmed “My Happy Ending” in Brooklyn, featuring above-ground trains running in the background of some scenes.
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Beastie Boys, “An Open Letter to NYC”
Year: 2004
In their musical ode to NYC, the Beastie Boys subtly showcased the trains that power their home city by including shots of a train running and the underside of above-ground tracks for the “Open Letter to NYC” video.
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Chappell Roan, “The Subway”
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Year: 2025
Roan filmed the subway car scenes for “The Subway” at the New York Transit Museum in Downtown Brooklyn.
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Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys, “Empire State Of Mind”
Year: 2009
The music video for Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ iconic musical love letter to New York fittingly features a scene with the rapper sitting in front of a 1 train station in Harlem.
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Jennifer Lopez, “Feelin’ So Good”
Year: 2000
Jenny From the Block catches a 6 train with her gal pals on a night out in the “Feelin’ So Good” visual — but even though she jumps over the turnstiles without paying the fare, others should only do so at their own risk.
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Lady Gaga, “LoveGame”
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Year: 2009
At the height of her early Fame, Gaga took a ride on the subway for her “LoveGame” video, flanked by backing dancers and with disco stick in hand. (Despite being shot to appear like the NYC subway system — the video begins with Times Square exteriors, and a sign for 42nd Street Station appears during one dance sequence the video actually was filmed in Los Angeles.)
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Macy Gray, “I Try”
Year: 1999
What better place to yearn than on the subway? Macy Gray shows that a train ride is the perfect setting for some wistful thinking in “I Try.”
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Michael Jackson, “Bad”
Year: 1987
After Jackson famously filmed his “Bad” music video at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station in Brooklyn, Weird Al Yankovic did the same for his visual for “Fat,” his parody of MJ’s hit.
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Rod Stewart, “Downtown Train”
Year: 1989
Stewart showcases a number of downtown-running trains in his “Downtown Train” video, including an R, a 6 and even an S, which is known for being the shortest subway line in NYC.
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Sabrina Carpenter, “Thumbs”
Year: 2017
Carpenter filmed the video for one of her early singles, “Thumbs,” on a set designed to look like a Brooklyn-bound 2 train.
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Taylor Swift, “The Man”
Year: 2020
Frequent subway riders know all too well the character Swift embodies in “The Man” music video: someone who spreads their legs while sitting down, taking up way more than their allotted space on the coveted bench seats.
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The Avalanches, “Because I’m Me”
Year: 2016
“Because I’m Me” finds an impromptu concert and dance break erupting in a station on the B/D line — which isn’t totally unusual for NYC’s subway stations, where buskers often perform for commuters and tourists.
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