It's likely true that if most of us had a nickel for every time we heard someone romanticize New York City past the point of good taste, we'd be able to pay off our student loans, buy our mom a new car, and scalp some decent tickets for the Yeezus tour. Sure, it can be annoying to hear so much stock placed in one place, but it doesn't come from nowhere. Fitz and the Tantrums singer Michael Fitzpatrick caved to the city's ineffable alchemy when he was recording the band's first album."I spent the summer here riding my bike with my best friend," he says. "We would just ride around and sort of fill up with creativity and energy and the electricity of this city, and then I would take that energy back and go to my studio back in LA."The electricity he speaks of is fairly obvious to anyone who's ever spent a summer day in the city when it's not too hot, humid, or crowded; the feeling of walking around in a bustling area and realizing that there's plenty to do if you're willing to do it. "Me, I've always seen the streets of New York as a great equalizer," he says. "It doesn't matter if you're rich, poor, black, white, anything—when you're on those streets, it's equal territory. You all have to sort of co-exist and respect each other."It's not true that the city only attracts preternaturally ready people, either. Sometimes, motivation is found on those bustling streets. "I think there was a pivotal moment where I was working on those first songs for Fitz and the Tantrums in Tribeca," he says. "It was one of the moments where myself as a vocalist, I just found my voice in that moment and I walked out from the studio and it was just this moment of self-realization and confidence in myself as an artist. That moment will forever be paired with just being able to be in a city, in a community, and that energy really fed me so much in those first songs." A lot of people can say the same.