In the concrete jungle where dreams are made of, millions of New Yorkers finally realized their dream of watching the Knicks win the NBA Championship. And on Thursday (June 18), many of them took to the streets to witness the city’s parade celebrating that feat, the finale of which was Alicia Keys singing NYC anthem “Empire State of Mind.”
After a series of floats carrying Knicks team members, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and celebrity fans of the team such as Timothee Chalamet, Mariska Hargitay and Fat Joe, the 17-time Grammy winner took the stage at City Hall in a leathery black jacket with studs recreating the Knicks logo.
“This is our time, we are champions!” she cheered, getting the crowd hyped before crooning a few lines of Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind,” accompanied by her son Egypt on piano.
Keys then took his place behind the, well, keys, as the instantly recognizable drum pattern for “Empire State of Mind” — her collab with Jay-Z that topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks in 2009 — rang out, earning ecstatic cheers of recognition from the attendees. As Mamdani, Knicks MVP Jalen Brunson and his teammates sang and danced along with their championship trophy gleaming on a table nearby, Keys belted out her iconic lyrics: “Now you’re in New York/ These streets will make you feel brand new/ Big lights will inspire you/ Let’s hear it for New York.”
“Are we the champions or what?” Keys cheered after wrapping up the song. “Congrats, New York City!”
The performance comes five days after the Knicks proved victorious in game five against the San Antonio Spurs, securing New York’s first championship title since 1973. For hours after the win, “Empire State of Mind” could be heard blasting in the city’s packed streets as countless residents celebrated the triumph outside.
Shortly after the game’s end, Mamdani announced that his office would host the parade commemorating the Knicks’ achievement. “Parade. Thursday. Manhattan,” he wrote simply on X.
Keys revealed that she would be performing NYC’s adopted theme song at the parade a few days after that. “Like, how could I not?” she said in a video on Instagram. “This is my city and the city’s on fire. There’s so much love in the city. It’s crazy. Everybody just united, feeling amazing. I’m excited.”
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