Sharon Van Etten is my favourite singer. And, against strong competition, Seventeen is my favourite song of hers. It reduces me to tears every time I hear it.

There’s something so moving about her love letter to New York – and to her younger self – reminiscing about the New York of her youth and the long-gone places where she started out as a musician.

It’s at once poignantly nostalgic but also celebratory when sung from the empowered position of a woman who is now successful in her field, looking back at her teenage self with all her hopes and dreams.

Curiously, considering the first version was released on her 2019 album Remind Me Tomorrow  – a thumpingly euphoric anthem  – I have never heard this version before.

Reworked as a duet with Norah Jones, it slows the song down and pares it back to its original style as a bluesy, country-tinged ballad in the style of Lucinda Williams that only emphasises its emotional weight, but with added intimacy.

Apparently it was made for an Amazon short film called Departure in which Sharon discussed leaving New York – the theme at the heart of the song – and was later performed by both of them together in this strangely staged rendition, standing on opposite sides of the stage while keeping their eyes fixed on one another.

Van Etten has described the song as showing “the chain reaction, of moving to a city bright-eyed and hearing the elders complain about the city changing, and then being around long enough to know what they were talking about.”

And, in the song, passing the baton on to a new generation – or, perhaps, her own child.

The video for the original version of the song shows Sharon taking the viewer on a tour of all her old downtown NYC haunts – some still there, others empty lots and new buildings.