On his newly-released second album, Sam Fender continues a rapid ascendency to rock stardom with his arena-bouncing sound and poignant lyricism.
‘Seventeen Going Under’ is a coming-of-age album that fuses Fender’s brutally honest songwriting and unwaveringly attentive musical compositions.
The opener and title track is a booming beginning that perfectly lays the foundations for the rest of the album as well as embodying everything we have come to know and love about the Tyneside musician.
With the first line stating, “I remember the sickness was forever”, the listener is reminded that this isn’t a euphoric record but rather an insight into Fender’s teenage years and how issues of toxic masculinity, self-esteem and financial struggle caused turbulence and complications.
Disillusionment and political polarity are topics that have been explored in tracks ‘Aye’ and ‘Long Way Off’.
Fender touches here on something relatable to many, in terms of feeling both sides of the political spectrum are not currently offering a set of ideas to associate with one’s own beliefs.
Long Way Off feels rather like a throwback to Sam’s earliest official releases, ‘Play God’ and ‘Start Again’, that maintain a tough, unrelenting tempo and harshly sung truths throughout.
Fender doesn’t shy away from expressing difficulties in his personal relationships with the inevitable festival-favourite ‘Get You Down’, which accepts how his self-esteem externally damages the connection he has been able to share.
Get You Down is just one of the tracks from the record’s first half that helps maintain a relentless level of momentum with its punchy sound and articulated focus.
When the album finally draws breath, Fender brings a country-like guitar riff that soars sensitively throughout ‘Spit of You’.
Coincidentally, this happens to be arguably his most painful and sincere release to date.
Spit of You reflects on Fender’s difficult paternal relationship, which eventually changed due to a perspective-altering argument and the passing of his grandmother.
This event is momentously captured when he sings: “And I’d never seen you like that / Spun me out”.
In terms of influences, Fender is a fascinating artist.
Both on this album and throughout his career, there is one comparison that can’t be escaped and that is Bruce Springsteen.
This is why @springsteen is my biggest hero. He came to my town, saw our struggle and helped even though he’s from the other side of the Atlantic. My Godfather was at this show, he told me this when I was a kid, it started a fire in me ❤️ https://t.co/cyPdYvYuD1
— Sam Fender (@samfendermusic) June 4, 2020
His presence is most prominent in the album’s closing song ‘The Dying Light’.
It’s an emotionally charged send-off that is reminiscent of songs from The Boss’ classic ‘Darkness On the Edge of Town’ and would certainly find a home on that record.
Fender admitted he sees the saxophone as an additional vocal – an instrument also essential in Springsteen’s sound – and there are many similarities between saxophonist Jake Clemons from the E Street Band and the use of the instrument on Seventeen Going Under.
Furthermore, on the track ‘Last To Make It Home’, there is a clear nod to the psychedelic rock sound of ‘The War on Drugs’.
The guitars distort and blend through the backend of the song as Fender frankly accepts, “I’m the last to call it off / I’m the last to meet my bed.”
In an interview with Apple Music, Fender explained: “At the beginning, I’m talking to the Virgin Mary, a Mary pendant.
“I’m realising I need to get a hold of myself. In the second half, Mary becomes personified. She becomes just some girl on Instagram.”
He confessed that: “It’s really an anthem for losers—because we’ve all been a loser once. I’ve been a loser hundreds of times.”
The penultimate song ‘Paradigms’ feels like a culmination of the album’s subject matter, serving as an appropriate tying together of the aforementioned emotional and political topics.
It is reflective of an artist who oozes maturity far beyond his years and someone who possesses a genuine, rare star quality that is quickly becoming adored and absorbed by the masses.
Sam Fender provides an exceptional insight into adolescent turmoil on Seventeen Going Under.
It feels like a path that he was always destined to tread again, given his thought-provoking lyrics and considerate musical tone.
Rating 9/10
Feature Image Credit: Polydor Records