Firsts & Fifteens

A song about the first tastes of freedom, heartbreak, and becoming yourself at fifteen.

The title Firsts & Fifteens has a double meaning.

On the surface, it nods to the 1st and the 15th — payday, that little jolt of freedom when you’re young and your own money starts to feel like proof that life might finally belong to you.

But underneath that, the song is really about being fifteen and living through all those firsts that feel enormous at the time: first jobs, first crushes, first heartbreaks, first late nights, first little tastes of independence, first times you realise your parents or your town or your friends might not have all the answers.

At fifteen, everything feels like it matters forever. A look across a room can feel like destiny. A bad decision can feel like the end of the world. A few dollars in your pocket can feel like a door opening. You’re still a kid in so many ways, but you’re starting to rehearse adulthood without knowing that’s what you’re doing.

That’s what Firsts & Fifteens is really about — not just money, but possibility. The strange sweetness of being young enough to believe the future is waiting right around the corner, and old enough to feel the ache of wanting to reach it.

Looking back, I think the song holds both things at once: the thrill of payday freedom, and the emotional chaos of first becoming yourself. It’s about that age when everything is new, everything is dramatic, and every small step forward feels like the beginning of real life.