Sam Fender

Sam Fender // SeventeenGoing Under

Back in the spring of 2019, this writer sat down with Sam Fender as hewas still piecing together Hypersonic Missiles, the sky-scraping debut whichsix months later would go on to top numerous charts and mint Fender’s status asthe most important songwriter of his generation.

Through the prism of an acutely aware kid from a council estate in NorthShields, tracks such as Dead Boys, The Borders and Leave Fast yearned forescape while finding poetry and drama in the lives of those surrounding theirauthor. They were songs with their eyes - and their hearts - wide open. As hesat in the afternoon sun, Fender reflected on the viewpoint within his songswith typical North Eastern self-deprecation.

“I find it easier to writeabout other people because I can be completely honest about them,” he pondered.“I can’t be completely honestabout myself because everyone would think I was a miserable c**t.”

Fast-forward to 2020 and like the rest of the planet, Sam Fender wasfaced with little more than the four walls in front of him. There were no oldboys propping up the bar at The Lowlights Tavern or Poundshop Kardashians todraw inspiration from. Instead, for the first time as a songwriter he had toturn his gaze to himself.

“I didn’t have anyone to write about. I’ve always relied on that stuff.On hearsay, rumours, stories, gossip… gossip made mankind,” recalls Fendertoday from his studio in North Shields. “I didn’t want to write about Covidbecause fucking no one is ever going to want to hear about that ever again, sothis time I went inwards.”

You don’t need to be intimately acquainted with his backstory to realiseSam Fender’s own life isn’t short of material to draw from. Press play onSeventeen Going Under and in the surging double-header of the title track andGettin’ Started you can hear the beats of his own story, his journey from NorthShields and his own battles pounding through the music’s euphoric rush. You canpractically feel the wind blowing in your face as the motor starts running andthe vista of a life unfolding opens up ahead of you.

“Some of the stories are autobiographical so they write themselves,” hesays. “In a sense though, you’re writing about the humanexperience, but you do feel exposed.”

Like only a truly great songwriter can, Fender turns his own experienceinto art that speaks to, and resonates with, all of us. It’s why his songs mean so much to people. On the soaring Get You Down, he might be lookingunflinchingly at his own failures as a partner, yet as listeners we can all recognise something of ourselves within its New Order-meets-The E Street Band jangle. Similarly, you don’t need to have experienced the same sort ofrelationship with a parent or family member that inspired the heart-crushingSpit Of You to enjoy the fact that it’s the most moving songs written about therelationship between a father and son for decades.

Though in relative terms Seventeen (Going Under) is coming under two-years after Hypersonic Missiles, Fender’s songwriting is lightyears ahead here.Musically, the songs are far more nuanced, more detailed and more textured than before. Be it the plaintive piano blues of Last To Make It Home’s closing-time regret, the modal strings that swirl around the The Leveller’s pounding confusion or the enormous boom and crunch of Long Way Off’s state of the world-address, there’s a far wider scope of sounds and styles on display here, and the deftness with which Fender incorporates them is dazzling.

A great example of just how far he’s come as a writer is Aye. A trackFender sees as a follow up to Hypersonic Missile’s polemical broadside WhitePrivilege. Compare the two to see how much more sophisticated he’s become as alyricist, unafraid to move in grey areas and face ambiguities in a way thatactually reflects what it’s like to be a human through these troubling andconfusing times.

“Politics is so unpalatable at the moment and so polarised. The onlineworld is becoming progressively more toxic. We're so conditioned to assignevery person we talk to online to a camp that we've completely lost any human connection,” he says of the song’s feeling of being trapped within an echochamber of fury. “The only thing I care about is people. I think we've got to fight the injustices in the worldand one of them is the fact that we're being hoodwinked by the 1% permanentlyand we’re sat down here shouting at each other about some stuff on the news.It's a fucking cesspit.  Everyone's firedup and pissed off before they've even begun the conversation.”

If the album’s first half largely mirrors Fender’s own story, its seconddeals with the toll life and your own feelings of self worth can take. There’sa gentle feeling of joy within the War On Drugs-like Mantra as it speaks of theimportance of learning to love and accept yourself, while the explosive,widescreen sweep of Paradigms is a powerful reminder that the toxicity than canunfairly extinguish lives is sadly still with us. The empathy within ispalatable as Fender reaches out a hand, repeating the lyric “no one should feellike this”.

Perhaps the most important song on the record, however, is closing trackThe Dying Light. A piano-led epic that revisits the bars and promenades ofNorth Shields and sees the ghosts in the town still there, the dead boys thatstill keep growing in number, but comes to the powerful conclusion that ashuman beings we owe it to ourselves and everyone we love to keep fighting, thatlife will triumph. It’s a remarkable end to a remarkable album.

“This album is a coming ofage story. It’s about growing up. It’s acelebration of life after hardship, it’s a celebration of surviving,” reflectsFender. “I think it’s fucking leagues ahead of the first one.”

Sam Fender had nothing to fear. By turning his gaze inwards he hasn’tcome out sounding like a miserable c***t. He’s come out with an era-defining,life-affirming masterpiece. Seventeen Going Under is a celebration of lifeitself and is a triumph on every count. He’s right to feel proud of it.

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