Did you know Mayor Eric Adams is hosting an “Urban Rat Summit” in New York this week? I didn’t until today. I’m intimately familiar with New York City rats, and so is Suzanne Vega (stars: they’re just like us). On a separate note, Vega is also apparently a Fontaines D.C. fan. Those little critters and the Irish post-punk band both prompted the singer to write her new single “Rats,” her first new music in eight years.
“I was talking to Jimmy Hogarth, the producer of my 2007 album Beauty And Crime,” Vega said in a press release. “We were discussing who had seen the biggest rat. After that conversation, I kept reading about or hearing various rat stories, all of them true. I took careful note and set it all to music, inspired by the Ramones and Fontaines D.C.”
The song arrives with a music video by Martha Colburn, which features many, many rats. But musophobics needn’t worry — it’s animated. Watch it below.
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