Sharon Van Etten's "Seventeen": A Second Look

Sometimes when an artist takes some time off to pursue other avenues you don’t really get the sense of how much you missed them until they come back. In the case of Sharon Van Etten, she took the last few years off, went back to school, had a child and wrote a record, Remind Me Tomorrow, which will be dropping worldwide on January 18th. Her latest single from that album, “Seventeen”, just came out and it is a huge reminder of how vital an artist she is. The video, directed by Maureen Tower, is Van Etten’s love letter to her old NYC stomping grounds, and features herself and a younger version of herself exploring the places and feelings in that magical city that have contributed to making her into the artist and person she is today. It’s a wonderfully emotional affair, revelling in its subtle melancholy and nostalgia without ever becoming saccharine. Not only an homage to a city but also to an age where we all have been, trying to connect and trying to figure out what it is that we are to become. In that way, the song and the clip are endlessly relatable and just one of the many reasons we are all so happy to have Sharon Van Etten back.