“Change It!” by Tom Minor lands with the scrappy confidence of a street-corner sermon—equal parts pep talk, confession, and rebel yell. Released on Boxing Day, the timing feels intentional: this is music for the in-between moment, when the excess of the holidays has worn thin and the question of what now? hangs heavy in the air. Serving as a key signpost toward his upcoming sophomore album Ten New Toe-Tappers for Shoplifting & Self-Mutilation, the track doesn’t arrive politely. It barges in, gloves off, daring the listener to either get involved or get out of the way. From its first breath, “Change It!” establishes itself as a song about potential—frustrated, delayed, but stubbornly alive.
Lyrically, the song thrives on repetition, and that’s not a weakness—it’s the point. Minor hammers the phrase “I’m gonna change it” like a mantra for anyone stuck between intention and action. The words feel less like a promise already kept and more like one being fought for in real time. Lines such as “I get confused every day” and “I ain’t nothin’, nowhere, no one” ground the track in vulnerability, refusing the false confidence of self-help slogans. Yet instead of collapsing inward, the song leans forward, fueled by sheer will. There’s something refreshingly unpolished about this approach: Minor doesn’t tell you what he’s changing—only that the act itself is non-negotiable. In that ambiguity, the song becomes a mirror, allowing listeners to project their own dissatisfactions, fears, and half-formed hopes into its framework.
Musically, “Change It!” draws deeply from vintage soul while wearing the scuffed boots of indie rock. The groove feels lived-in, slightly raw around the edges, and proudly unrefined. Johnny Dalston’s guitar work adds grit and urgency, slicing through the track with a tone that’s more about attitude than perfection. Under the guidance of producer Teaboy Palmer—also known as The Basher of Belsize Park—the song avoids overproduction, choosing instead to preserve its roughneck charm. The rhythm pushes forward like a stubborn engine, giving Minor’s vocal delivery space to oscillate between frustration and resolve. When the track opens up into its more surreal imagery—“suburban redevelopment programme,” “can you spare me a paradigm?”—it feels like a world being dismantled mid-song, old structures torn down in search of something more honest.
What makes “Change It!” resonate is its refusal to romanticise transformation. This isn’t a victory lap—it’s the sound of someone stepping into the ring knowing they might still get hit. The repeated insistence of “Watch me change!” feels less like arrogance and more like a survival instinct, shouted out loud to make it real. In the context of Minor’s growing catalogue, the track feels like a hinge moment: a bridge between awareness and action, between self-critique and self-determination. As a precursor to Ten New Toe-Tappers for Shoplifting & Self-Mutilation, it suggests an album unafraid of discomfort, contradiction, and dark humour, but still driven by a stubborn belief in forward motion. “Change It!” offers momentum, and sometimes, that’s the only thing you need to finally move.
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