The Angel (North London Forever) | |
Cover: | The Angel (North London Forever).png |
Border: | yes |
Type: | single |
Artist: | Louis Dunford |
Ep: | The Popham |
Label: | RCA |
"The Angel (North London Forever)" is a song by English singer-songwriter Louis Dunford. It was released on 25 February 2022 by RCA Records as the second single from his second EP, The Popham.[1] [2]
Dunford wrote the song as a love letter to his hometown of Islington, North London,[3] as well as his family and friends living in the borough.[1] [2] [3]
It is also dedicated to Premier League football club Arsenal, which based in Islington as the artist is a life-long supporter of the team.[3] [4]
The official music video was directed by Oscar J. Ryan and released on 25 February 2022 through Dunford's own YouTube channel.[5]
Two months after its release, the song gained traction by getting noticed and shared by fellow Arsenal supporters on social media.[4] It eventually got to the attention of Mikel Arteta, Arsenal's manager, who wanted to capture a club spirit, and invited Dunford to visit the club's training ground and meet the players.[6]
On 8 May 2022, Dunford was invited by Arsenal's board as a special guest, together with his family and his friends, at the Emirates Stadium, in order to watch the Premier League match against Leeds United: while the players were warming up on the pitch, thousands of fans across the stadium started singing the chorus of "The Angel".[4] [7] [8] In his post-match interview, Mikel Arteta described the emotional impact the song had on his team, saying quote:
Since then, the song has been regarded as Arsenal's anthem, and gets played before every home game at the Emirates Stadium.[9] [10] [11]
Following the success of his song, Dunford was featured in the final episode of the Amazon Original sports docuseries, , which followed the club's coaching staff and players behind the scenes, both on and off the field, throughout their 2021–22 season.[12]