But that triumphant mood is built upon incisive lyrics about how anger is a sickness that ‘Makes you hurt the ones you love you… like they’re nothin’. The track sweeps you up in its momentum as chiming guitars and propulsive rhythms build to an arena-sized ‘wooah-oh-ohhhh’ sing-along. It’s all there in the opening title track to Seventeen Going Under, Fender’s second album that does everything his debut did bigger and better. His voice and presence stitch the intensity of his lyrics and music into fist-pumping anthems built for big crowds to sing along to, yet still hit you square in the heart. The 27-year-old never shies away from chronicling his tough upbringing in his music, but his gift is in fusing grim truths into rousing, bombastic songs. Not bad for a teen from the working-class coastal town of North Shields who admits he spent his youth getting stoned or into fights as he bounced between the lives of his separated mother and father. It impressed listeners and critics alike, debuting atop the UK charts and winning the Critic’s Choice Brit Award for its refreshingly meaningful slant on guitar music. Sam Fender’s debut album Hypersonic Missiles introduced him as a songwriter with skill, honesty, and a great love for anthemic rock. Fans of Gang of Youths and Bruce Springsteen will find plenty to love about how this young Geordie bridges chest-beating bravado with bleak subject matter on his second album, Seventeen Going Under.Ĭontent Warning: This article discusses suicide.

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