Sam Fender

Seventeen Going Under

Seventeen Going Under is a spectacularly faultless second record that will inspire generations to come: Springsteen might be Sam’s hero but he's becoming a boss in his own right.

Seventeen Going Under is profoundly sad and also a euphoric singalong. It’s hard to know how to feel while listening to it, other than certain it’s a triumph.

Bravely putting his own life under that same microscopic attention to detail that coloured so much of his debut, it is a bold leap forward in all the ways that matter.

The North Shields singer-songwriter perfects his trademark style on a lyrically introspective yet musically expansive follow-up to his hit debut album Hypersonic Missiles.

Sam Fender gives a stirring tour through the poverty and politics of middle England on his polished new album, Seventeen Going Under.

Seventeen Going Under is powerful, essential stuff, a coming of age album that speaks to the human experience in the here and now. Its creator is absolutely the real deal.

Exploring his own internal identity crisis, Sam Fender’s Seventeen Going Under showcases insecurity, socio-political confusion and imposter syndrome against a whirling background of Americana rock.

Despite not quite being as upbeat and full of instant hits like his debut, Seventeen Going Under sees Sam Fender take the listener on a new, personal, and emotional journey that centres around the backdrop of his adolescence and his own sense of morality.

Seventeen Going Under would benefit from more such restraint, to really bring out the vulnerability and sensitivity underpinning Fender’s oeuvre.

Fender has refined both his songwriting and his sound.

While the subject matter here is more personal, it sticks to a palette of lush, guitar-based band arrangements and doesn't shed any sociopolitical awareness.

With classic rock ambition and full-hearted sincerity, the 27-year-old British songwriter hits his stride when looking inward but fumbles when casting his gaze toward society at large.