Meet the Long Island Mets fan who writes a song about each series
Jordan Simpson is no one-hit wonder.
The 26-year-old from Wheatley Heights discovered his gift for music when he was 1 1/2 years old and perfectly played the drum notes from the show “Veggie Tales” by patting his father’s back. He has perfect pitch, the ability to recognize a note without reference.
He has also been a diehard Mets fan since 2007, with in-depth knowledge from the superstars to the farm system.
The blend of both — elite music skills in any genre and deeply-rooted Mets fandom — has allowed Simpson to carve a niche role in the Mets community with increasing popularity by the day.
Simpson, with a following of around 21,000 between Instagram, TikTok and X, posts recap songs after every Mets series. He picks a song, writes his own lyrics, sings, plays instruments and shoots and edits video to upload to social media.
Musician and Mets fan Jordan Simpson is shown in his home music studio in Wheatley Heights on Wednesday. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas
“I genuinely enjoy doing it,” Simpson said. “As much as it is work, I enjoy the process and just kind of the fast pace of it, if you will. It’s one thing to put out — if you release a song where there's months that can go into that, to then get the feedback months after the process.
“Whereas this is like a series begins, and then a series ends. And so from start to finish, you have a few days of stuff going on, and then the turnaround is very, very quick. But it's a fun thing that I just genuinely enjoy doing.”
Simpson said each song can take anywhere from three to six hours to produce.
Simpson’s work has made it to SNY and the Jumbotron at Madison Square Garden. But his road to stardom may just be beginning.
“The young man is a genius,” said Middle Island's Greg Princivil, a Mets content creator known as "Jingle Man."
The process
Simpson has been playing music his whole life, but Opening Day in 2023 opened his eyes to what could be.
He made his own cover of the SNY Mets theme song, his first time making a Mets-related video. The network’s "SportsNite" show picked it up.
“I was like, ‘OK. This is kind of coming out of nowhere,’ ” Simpson said. “So it kind of felt like that was what kind of put me on the map, so to speak, of just in the Mets world. So that was just more so from that point, how do I try to build off of that?”
Simpson started making series recaps toward the end of the 2023 season, and he has done so ever since.
Before the season, Simpson goes through the Mets schedule and picks artists that have ties to where the team’s opponent is from. He picks a few song options per series, depending on how the Mets play, and takes notes throughout.
For example, Simpson knew he wanted to use a song by Pennsylvania native Taylor Swift after the Mets hosted the Phillies in a three-game set in April. He had two Grammy nominee choices: “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” as a fallback if the Mets lost the series, and “Shake It Off” as a more upbeat selection if they won.
The Mets swept the Phillies, ending the series with a 4-3 win on Starling Marte’s walk-off single.
Simpson sang: “So he came up to the plate, plate, plate, plate, plate. And he didn’t hesitate, -tate, -tate, -tate, -tate. And we got to celebrate, -brate, -brate, -brate, -brate. He walked it off! He walked it off!”
The community
Simpson has collaborated with others, including Princivil. They team up for songs on everything from free-agent additions to trades and call-ups.
Princivil, 41, and Simpson collaborated on a song for Walt "Clyde" Frazier’s 80th birthday in March, and it was played at the Garden during the Knicks-Trail Blazers game on March 30.
@jrsimpsonmusic To say that this is an honor wouldn’t do it justice🙌🏿 Tune in tomorrow’s Knicks game at 6 and you’ll be hearing this song throughout the telecast of Clyde Frazier’s birthday celebration🎉 W/ @JingleMets #fyp #foryou #knicks #ClydeFrazier #nyknicks #musician #jingle #bassist #drummer #groove #funk #grateful ♬ original sound - Jordan Simpson
“We work extremely well together,” Princivil said. “It's very seamless. The projects that we work on, it's not only fun, but we just have a natural chemistry. It doesn't take us very long to produce something. I've found that working with him is very easy, and he comes up with ideas — especially with beats — very, very easily. It's amazing. He's very good.”
Simpson has plenty of musical inspirations, including his father — who had a wedding band — and Stevie Wonder among others. He has now had the chance to work with some directly.
Simpson is a big fan of Lawrence, a New York-based pop-soul group. He worked with Clyde Lawrence, one of the band’s lead singers, for a Subway Series recap last month.
Simpson also made a Mets song with one of his best friends from Paumanok Elementary School in Dix Hills, fellow Mets fan Josh Meehan, 26, who now resides in Los Angeles.
Meehan’s favorite band is the Foo Fighters, and he and Simpson teamed up for a Nationals series recap last September after learning lead singer Dave Grohl is from the Washington, D.C., area.
“The consistency and every time to just make it as good as it is,” said Meehan, “I think only somebody with his musical talent and love of the Mets could do that.”
The future
The schedule does not always line up perfectly for Simpson, who also plays musical gigs and works part-time in the Half Hollow Hills Central School District. But he is steadfast in his content production.
“I'm more impressed with the fact that he doesn't miss a game, doesn't miss a series, doesn't miss a signing, doesn't miss a trade,” Meehan said. “The commitment to it and everything is awesome.”
Simpson has interacted with the Mets on social media and received recognition from players, including Sean Manaea, who loved Simpson and Princivil’s version of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start The Fire” — “Mets Added Sean Manaea.”
He would love to collaborate with the Mets, though nothing has officially happened yet.
“A fan wrote that ‘Go New York Go,’ for the Knicks,” Meehan said. “Maybe Jordan could write something for the Mets.”
Maybe so.
“I think you kind of just take it day by day, and definitely grateful for the growth and for where things have gone,” Simpson said. “But I'm also very much a hard worker in the sense of just keep going.
“You've seen the growth at this point, so just keep at it and who knows what's going to happen next?”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
