Irish rock favorites Fontaines D.C. are back with their first new song of 2025, “It’s Amazing to Be Young.”
The track captures the confusion and frustration of youth, but also the euphoria and overwhelming sense of possibility it can instill, even in the face of a cruel world. On the hook, frontman Grian Chatten laces his sonorous baritone over a swooning crash of guitars. “That the cost/Brings you down,” he sings, “But it’s amazing/To be young.”
“It’s Amazing to Be Young” also arrives with a music video directed by Luna Carmoon that follows the saga of a couple in love. The pair meet after the guy picks up a prescription for an extremely gnarly black eye, setting off a whirlwind romance that’s inevitably disrupted by — what else? — a grumpy parent. But not even the girl being sent away by her angry mother (to join the circus or carnival, it seems) can separate these two.
In a statement (via Billboard), Fontaines D.C. bassist Conor Deegan said “It’s Amazing to Be Young” was inspired by guitarist Carlos O’Connell’s new child. That gave the track the feel of a “lullaby or a music box” tune, with Deegan adding, “The feeling of hope a child can give is profound and moving, especially for young men like us. That sense of wanting to create a world for them to grow up in happily. It’s a feeling that fights against the cynicism that can often overtake us in the modern world. So we wanted to declare which side we were on — it really is amazing to be young.”
Last year, Fontaines D.C. released their fourth studio album, Romance, which went on to earn two nominations at the 67th Grammy Awards: Best Rock Album and Best Alternative Music Performance for “Starburster.” The group have a bunch of tour dates slated for 2025, including a North American trek that kicks off April 17 in Seattle and wraps with a three-night stand at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City from May 16 through 18.
From Rolling Stone US
