Mercury Prize 2025: Sam Fender confirmed as winner for ‘People Watching’
The 2025 Mercury Prize has been won by Sam Fender for People Watching.
The ceremony, hosted by BBC 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne, took place in Newcastle at the Utilita Arena on October 16th. It marked the first time in the event’s history that it had been held outside of London.
Prior to the unveiling of Fender as the winner of the most prestigious award in British and Irish music, a series of nominees performed in Newcastle, including Emma-Jean Thackray, FKA Twigs, Jacob Alon, Joe Webb, Martin Carthy, Pa Salieu, Pulp, and Wolf Alice.
Taking to the stage in his hometown, Fender performed the title track from the record, which topped the charts upon its release in February.
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The only nominees who didn’t take to the stage in Newcastle were Fontaines DC, PinkPantheress, and CMAT, who recently cancelled her tour due to undergoing surgery on a wisdom tooth.
In his victory speech, Fender said, “I want to say thank you to all the other nominees tonight, there’s some very good friends among the nominees, CMAT, Fontaines. We are in great company, and I want to say thank you to the person that I never did, to the person that People Watching is about.”
Fender emotionally continued, “I want to dedicate it to Annie Orwin.” He then, in a nod to his hometown, shouted at the top of his lungs, “This is the best region in the world.”
In a four-star review, Far Out wrote of the triumphant new album: “People Watching is an album that does it all, showing each and every corner of Fender’s talent and ability, but especially shining a clear light on his unrivalled knack for boiling down huge topics into deeply personal, human stories.”
Fender’s win comes on the eve of the release of his new collaboration with Elton John, ‘Talk To You’, which is set to appear on the deluxe edition of People Watching later this year.
While this marks Fender’s first Mercury win, he was previously nominated in 2022 for his second album, Seventeen Going Under, but lost out to Little Simz.
In addition to taking place in front of thousands at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle, the 2025 Mercury Prize was also available to watch on BBC Four and listen to on BBC 6 Music.
Mercury Prize 2025: The winner and nominated albums:
- CMAT – Euro-Country
- Emma-Jean Thackray – Weirdo
- FKA Twigs – Eusexua
- Fontaines DC – Romance
- Jacob Alon – In Limerence
- Joe Webb – Hamstrings & Hurricanes
- Martin Carthy – Transform Me Then Into A Fish
- Pa Salieu – Afrikan Alien
- PinkPantheress – Fancy That
- Pulp – More
- Sam Fender – People Watching *WINNER
- Wolf Alice – The Clearing
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