Best 2020s Songs: 20 Tracks That Define The Decade We Live In

7: Sam Fender: Seventeen Going Under (2021)

Capturing his troubled journey into adulthood, Sam Fender’s coming-of-age indie rock-anthem Seventeen Going Under ranks highly among the best 2020s songs for poignantly navigating the maze of growing up. “17 is when all the challenges begin,” Fender wrote on Tumblr, in “A Letter To My 17 Year old Self”. “You’re not a baby, but you’re definitely not an adult (turns out that bit takes a lot longer than you think).” With all the blue-collar relatability of Bruce Springsteen at his best, the Newcastle-born singer-songwriter dredges up memories of his teenage years in North Shields, vividly conveying the anger and despair he felt as the child of an unemployed parent (“I see my mother/The DWP see a number/She cries on the floor encumbered”). Peaking at No.3 in the UK, Seventeen Going Under is one of the decade’s most impactful and emotionally charged rock songs, transforming the social deprivation of Fender’s upbringing into universally affecting songwriting.