Swift donating song profits to NY schools

Singer Taylor Swift. Photo / AP

Pop superstar Taylor Swift is taking her new role as New York's tourism ambassador to heart by donating all proceeds from her new Big Apple anthem to help fund the city's public schools.

The Shake It Off songwriter recently released the tune Welcome To New York, about her experiences since moving to Manhattan earlier this year.

And she is planning to help the city's school system by handing over much-needed cash.

"I love it here. I love it so much and I actually ended up writing a song called Welcome To New York about what it felt like to move here and about how it just felt very, very much like endless possibilities and it feels like being unique is celebrated here," Swift said during an appearance on US daytime show The View.

"The song, it's selling really, really well, which is good because I'm donating all of my proceeds to New York City public schools."

The announcement took place just a day after Swift sat down with a group of New York City schoolkids at publisher Scholastic's Soho headquarters to share her love of reading and writing with the youngsters.

More than 100 other children from schools in Michigan and California also joined in the special session via Skype.

The singer was named New York's new tourism spokesperson on Monday and will front a global campaign to encourage more people to visit the Big Apple.

Swift will also ring in 2015 in the city as the headliner at annual US TV extravaganza Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on December 31.

- WENN