ON THE RISE
Nate Young, aka Se7enDigits, has spent his whole life surrounded by music, and he draws from experiences with pain and struggle to put his art out for the world to hear.
The Pennsylvania based hip-hop/R&B artist has just released his newest single title “Change Your Mind,” which has a silky smooth beat, and a flow that will entrance the listener as he tells his story. The song is about a girl he was involved with, who was really into him but suddenly started to drift away. He was hoping he could change her mind and figure out how to change things to mend the relationship.
“I feel like my best songs come through pain and heartbreak,” Se7enDigits said. “This is a song about rose colored glasses, and seeing someone how you see them when you’re in love, but not seeing the reality of the situation.”
When writing a song, Se7enDigits is the type who goes straight to the microphone before having a beat. This one came as natural as ever, as the lyrics come straight from his heart.
“I get melodies and flows, and the lyrics will come after that,” he said. “Sometimes when I’m in there freestyling, it will just come to me. This hook came pretty easily. It’s very real to me. It’s from my own experiences, so it’s an authentic track for myself.”
Se7enDigits was born in South Korea, but was adopted at just one-years-old and raised in York, Pennsylvania with his sister. He grew up playing piano at the age of six, and moved onto playing guitar and viola before discovering his love for rap music. In his teenage years knew this was what he wanted to do with his life, and he dabbled in the world of R&B and hip-hop. He grew up watching his sister play in a rock band, and was in awe of how much fun it seemed. While in high school he started rapping with a friend up in his attic, and two years ago while attending college, he said he started to find his actual sound.
“If I had to describe my sound it would be right in between rap and R&B,” he said. “I incorporate runs like R&B, but it is still rap lyrics just with that melody.”
Music is like his personal therapy, and the more he creates the better he feels.
“I can just get whatever I’ve been thinking off my chest,” he said.
Throughout his career, Se7enDigits has not only written and recorded music, but he has also worked as a successful producer and engineer while collaborating with artists like Fetty Wap and PNB Rock. He didn’t make the beat for “Change Your Mind,” but production is something that Se7enDigits is heavily involved with. He likes to support other producers, but many of his tracks before and in the future, he takes charge.
Se7enDigits is inspired by Tory Lanez, J. Cole and PNB Rock, and he has taken their influence and created a brand new style of his own.
He works to create art that resonates with his audience personally, and also offers solace and support to fans in their times of need. The goal is to make music that is both relatable and enjoyable.
Se7enDigits is working on an album with a release date to be announced later, which will include the latest single “Change Your Mind.” He is still working on the rest of the project, but is excited for how it is shaping up. He also has live shows in the works that his label AWGIU is in the process of setting up.
Be sure to check out the new single “Change Your Mind” and follow the musical journey of Se7enDigits.
ON THE RISE
Blossoms caught up with NME to discuss competing with The Beatles and Johnny Marr for this week’s Number One album. With ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ in the running, the band also explained why making things themselves remains such an important part of their work as AI becomes more common.
The Stockport group put out their sixth album last Friday, October 2. By the midweek update, it was sitting at Number Two, between The Beatles’ expanded edition of ‘Rubber Soul’ and Johnny Marr’s latest solo album, ‘The Age Of Everything’.
“It’s mad, to be honest,” singer Tom Ogden said to NME about the chart race. “Liverpool on one side, Manchester on the other and Stockport in the middle. If you’d told us this 10 years ago, when we were releasing our debut, I wouldn’t have believed you. But I mean, we’re in good company aren’t we?”
Discussing the stories behind the album, Ogden described ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ as “about being married and all the everyday stuff that comes with it”. He married Katie Donovan, the sister of Blossoms drummer Joe, in 2021. Married life has since given him a new appreciation for what he describes as “the extraordinary ordinary”.
“Saying the wrong thing in an argument, losing your wife’s no claims bonus, crying at the Kardashians, it’s all in there,” he explained. “The album is named after Stockport Town Hall, which everyone round where we live calls the Wedding Cake, and it’s where I got married, so it couldn’t be much closer to home.
“The last album [‘Gary’, 2024] had a song about a stolen fibreglass gorilla, which everyone loved, and that gave us the confidence to bring the same playfulness to this one, just with more personal subject matter this time.”
Alongside tracks that came out of writing sessions with Declan McKenna in a hot tub, the album reflects the band’s desire to stay involved in every part of the creative process.
“It started with the recording,” Ogden explained. “We made the album with Shawn Lee, playing live straight to tape, and once you’ve done it that way you can’t really go and fake everything else. We sat down as a band and picked the colour palette, and everything visual followed from that. We had body scans taken of ourselves and cake toppers of the five of us 3D printed, put them on a real cake and photographed it. I’ve directed and edited the videos, and the sets are all built by hand, no green screen. For the pop-up shop on launch weekend, a local artist hand-painted the album cover for the sign outside.
“It’s more work, but you end up with a world that’s yours, and I think people can tell when a band’s had its hands on everything.”
With AI tools and digital effects becoming increasingly widespread, that approach feels particularly relevant. For Blossoms, though, the motivation is simple: “the fun is in the making”.
“Tape doesn’t let you cheat and neither does a real cake,” Ogden said. “If a set’s a bit wonky, it’s because one of us or our mates built it. I think the more stuff gets generated, the more people want to know a human being actually did it. We’ve been in this band together for over 10 years, five lads from Stockport, and that isn’t something you can ‘prompt’.”
Maya Jama also appeared in the video for the album’s first single, ‘Meet Me In Love’. Her appearance came shortly before the UK launch of Celebrity Traitors, where she took on the role of a traitor alongside a cast that included Richard E Grant and James Acaster.
“She was brilliant,” Ogden recalled of working with Jama. “We’d met her at the MTV EMAs in Manchester a couple of years ago, so we took a chance and sent her a DM …and she said yes. Next thing she’s in a theatre in Cheadle miming my vocals while a load of people dressed as me serenade her. She got the idea straight away and was a proper laugh about it.”
The conversation then turned to whether he thought Jama could take home the win on Celebrity Traitors.
Ogden joked: “As for Traitors, she spent a whole day pretending to sing my song and I almost believed her, so I’d say she’s got every chance.”
Fans can listen to ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ now. In November, Blossoms head out on a UK arena tour with The Royston Club. Tickets and further details are available here.
Before the tour begins, the group is also scheduled to appear on SNL UK on Saturday, October 24.
