LETTER TO YOUNG ME
The Story Behind the Song
The Letter That Never Arrived
I sat down one night with the intention of writing a letter to my seventeen-year-old self. All the wisdom. All the warnings. All the detours to avoid.
“Dear kid, here’s the manual for the life you’re gonna live / All the detours you should skip, all the chances you shouldn’t give.”
But somewhere between writing and sending, something shifted. I realised: if I’d gotten that letter, if I’d played it safe and avoided all those “mistakes”—I never would’ve ended up here.
With her. With this life. With these hard-won lessons that became my foundation.
Thank God that letter got lost in time.
The Beautiful Chaos
The chorus became the realisation:
“But somewhere between the writing and the sending / That letter got lost in time / And now I’m standing here defending / Every stumble, every climb.”
“‘Cause if I’d saved myself the trouble / Stayed smart, stayed safe, stayed true / I never would’ve wandered far enough / To find my way to you.”
That’s the whole thesis. The scenic route is the only route worth taking. Every wrong turn was actually the right one.
The Specific Mistakes
The rap section tells the story—specific, biographical, raw:
“I’m seventeen, and I don’t need nobody’s permission / Independent man, got my own ambition / College? Nah bru, that’s a waste of time / I got a job, got a paycheck, got a life that’s mine.”
Left home early. Skipped higher education. Met a girl, fell hard, married too young. Got crushed. Heart in pieces.
“Twenty-one, married up, thought I had it sorted / But the dream got twisted, the love got distorted / Heart got crushed, left me picking up pieces / Should’ve slowed down but I signed all the leases.”
Every decision felt catastrophic at the time. Every heartbreak felt permanent.
“Skipped the books for the bills, chose the grind over class / Now I’m learning life lessons while I’m running out of gas / But yo—every wrong turn, every choice that burned / Set me up for the lesson I needed to learn.”
Building the Sound
Musically, this needed to feel playful despite exploring serious territory. Upbeat South African folk rock with maskandi guitar, children’s choir chanting “Buya ekhaya” (come home) as counter-melody.
The verses are rap—conversational, story-driven, building the narrative. The chorus is sung—anthemic, grateful, celebrating the chaos.
The Zulu phrases became the emotional through-line:
“Zonke iziphosakalo / Zangihola kuwe” (All my mistakes / Led me to you)
“Yonke iminyaka / Yayingeza kuwe” (All my years / Were bringing me to you)
Every mistake was actually a step closer. Every wrong turn was part of the map.
The Gratitude Shift
The bridge brings it home:
“Ngibonga yonke into” (I’m grateful for everything)
“Yebo, siyabonga” (Yes, we are grateful)
“Engangenza kanzima” (That made things difficult)
Grateful for the difficulty. Grateful for the detours. Grateful for the heartbreak.
Because without all of it, I’d be somewhere else with someone else, and that version of life? I don’t want it.
What It Means Now
This song makes me emotional in the best way. Because I spent so many years with regret as my constant companion. Wishing I’d done things differently. Made better choices. Played it smarter.
But looking back now? I wouldn’t change a thing.
Not the early marriage that fell apart. Not skipping college. Not the financial struggles or the heartbreak or the years feeling lost.
Because all of it—every single misstep—was actually GPS coordinates to exactly where I needed to be.
The Universal Thread
If you’re carrying regret about your past choices, here’s what I want you to hear:
What if every “wrong” decision was actually right? What if the scenic route was the whole point? What if your mistakes are the most interesting part of your story?
Hindsight might be 20/20, but it’s also overrated. Because if you could go back and fix everything, you’d fix yourself right out of the life you’re meant to live.
“So that letter stays undelivered, sealed and gathering dust / ‘Cause hindsight’s overrated when you’re learning how to trust / The broken roads, the heartache, the degrees I never earned / Every scar’s a story, every fire helped me learn.”
The mess you made? That’s the map that showed you where you belong.
Listen to “Letter to Young Me” and thank your younger self for not knowing better.
From the album Ancient Roads
