Singled Out: Noah Derksen's F You and F Your Friends Too

Keavin Wiggins | 12-22-2022

Photo courtesy Auteur Research

Award-winning roots/Americana singer-songwriter Noah Derksen recently released his new single, "F You and F Your Friends Too", and to celebrate we asked him to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

Ah, where to begin. Let's start with a feeling: pain. Not quite like putting your hand on a hot stove (ouch!). More like a simultaneous punch to your gut and throat and heart and your head all at the same time. Riiiight at the spot where emotional pain becomes physical. Feel me?

FU came from my basement apartment in Winnipeg's grungy West End, as did all my songs from this new album. I was dumped twice during the 18 months of the pandemic, and by the same person no less. It felt awful, but also, how could I really expect something different?
So I locked myself in my basement, and turned to writing as my emotional outlet; heartbreak has a way of immobilizing, freezing time and space and makes you feel like you're moving in slow motion while the world around you spins twice as fast.

The title of the song-f*** you and f*** your friends too-was the first line to come to me in my despair. It's at the point in an argument when you've said all you can say and you've passed the point of no return: you've left it all on the table and you're not going to work things out. It's immature, childish maybe, but damn does it feel cathartic. I thought it was a funny idea for a song to be so pointed and direct in a breakup song, whereas most lyrics these days are filled with abstractions. But it also sounds pretty aggressive, so we developed the song with the band to be a little more fun and bouncy to contrast the heaviness of the lyrics.

At the end of the day, sh*t happens. Relationships end, people hurt one another, and life is confusing. But sometimes you just gotta lean in and say...f*** you and f*** your friends too.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about Noah here