While waiting for your next album to be released next year, I came to realize that it’s been almost 4(?) years since your music has been a part of my life.

It was around November 2015 when I first acknowledged you guys. I was 19, and finishing my first year of an English Teaching Training course. My Literature teacher gave If Only as an example of a phrasal verb. She then recommended the whole class to check the song out, and that’s exactly what I did (and I’m sure I was the only one who did).

Needless to say, I was completely hooked at first listen. I proceeded to look through some of your other work on Spotify (not every album was available at the time) and I remember digging what I heard.

But it wasn’t until February of 2016 that I started diving deeper into your discography. Pressed the shuffle button and You Can’t Stop Us started playing. ‘UNBELIEVABLE’, I said to myself. I can’t describe what I felt at that moment, but deep inside I knew it was going to be life-changing.

One of the things that I love doing the most is showing music to my friends. A week after being plunged into the Hansonverse, I told Keila – one of my internet best friends, whom I’ve been talking for 5 years and still haven’t met yet- about you. She also fell in love instantly, and we would start sharing our thoughts on songs and some of your weird hairstyle choices from back in the day.

2016 was, strangely, a hard year for me. I was in my 2nd year of university, had recently moved to an apartment and I felt empty and hopeless. I started trusting the wrong people, the teachers weren’t what I expected them to be, and the course wasn’t my favorite thing to study. Thankfully, your songs, live presentations, and documentaries were there to keep me safe. I got super interested in your story – Strong Enough To Break opened my eyes to how the music industry works and how tough it is for every artist. The year was ending and I knew absolutely everything about you and everyone knew how much I loved your music (this caused people to unfollow me on Twitter, which I never really cared about in the first place); Keila and I both stated which album was our favorite (though it could change over time), and we would discuss which piano or guitar solo stood out the most in the songs.

Forward to January 2017, I had just arrived in Bristol, England to start an English course that would take up the entire year. Hands down, one of the best trips of my life -not only because I lived in the UK by myself for a year, but also because I had the chance to see you live for the first time: 10th of June, at London’s o2 Shepherds Bush Empire.

When the concert finished, I got to meet Isaac – he signed my The Walk and Live & Electric album booklets. I remember having a whole speech in my head, but when I had him in front of me I froze – the usual.

After I went back home from the UK, I dropped out of my English Teaching course and started studying Journalism. I’m now on my 2nd year and I’m loving it – writing articles is my thing.

So, two years have passed since that night, and I’d like to write out all of the stuff that I’ve wanted to tell you but couldn’t:

I’ll never get tired of saying you’re the best band in the world and the most passionate and hard-working group of people I’ve ever seen.

get tired of saying you’re the best band in the world and the most passionate and hard-working group of people I’ve ever seen. My bond with Keila grew stronger because of you. She was also able to see you in concert in 2017.

Thank you for not giving up and staying true to yourselves.

In such a short amount of time, you’ve become my saving grace. The fact that I can reach out to your work whenever I feel down is satisfying.

I’ll always love you.

Until we meet again,

Lourdes