Listen to this when
Seventeen Going Under
For everyone who was a kid carrying grown-up weight 🎸
Who it's for
Sam Fender looks back on being seventeen, watching his ill mother struggle with money and the benefits system while he felt helpless and angry.
Angry and overburdened→Cathartic and understood
Feelings it meets
What it is
"Seventeen Going Under" is the title track and lead single from Sam Fender's second studio album, released in July 2021. It draws on his family's hardship when he was 17: his mother, a longtime nurse, developed fibromyalgia and could no longer work, and the Department for Work and Pensions sent her letters and treated her unjustly.
Where to find it
All major streaming services.
Before you start
Heads up: Mild language; anger and violence.
Age: Suggested 13+
The roots below the earth claim no rewards for making the branches fruitful.Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, no. 134
