A Little Happy 2nd Birthday to Seventeen Going Under

A short one, but an important one today.

As much as I've dreamt of it, I've never met Sam Fender; I guess a little thank you/love letter to this album that he'll never read will have to do for now. After Hypersonic Missiles I was hooked to his strong beliefs and even stronger musicality, and I've been an addict ever since. Seventeen Going Under came out when I was 16 but this could not take away from its intense relatability. As a working class, northern, constant overthinker, this album just sang to me. On the day of its release, two years ago today, I listened to it five times over through college, through the way home, and through the night. Sam and the boys took all my frustrations with class, with politics, with myself and put them into the best album to be released this past decade. 

I've been a lucky one, seeing Sam live twice and even getting to the barrier at Scarborough. I spoke to my mother after that, telling her it was the most emotionally intense experience of my life, and she understood. A massive Springsteen fan, she got that music like this just makes you feel understood and is classic in its own right for doing that. I was even luckier to see him on the Friday of his legendary two nights at St James Park, only getting tickets two weeks before (I adore you twickets), and get to scream every lyric alongside my lovely mum, who was ecstatic at the moving ‘I’m On Fire’ cover. I am the luckiest to have seen Springsteen two weeks later and see that these two performers speak to the same generation of kids, just some are a little older than others. 

Seventeen Going Under has defined mine and many other people's adolescense, hung it all out on the line for everyone to see in the most honouring way. I don't know how much blood, sweat and tears went into the physical making of the album, but I know the experiences that helped it come together takes almost too much. I just wanted to write this rather jumbled mess to say thank you to the album, for making everything seem alright under the banner of relatability and community these past two years.

Thank you Sam, thank you to the band, and thank you to my mum (for getting it the most).

Me and my lovely mum at St James Park before the band came on and rocked the place good and proper.