Sam Fender releases title track from new album, ‘People Watching’
After months of teasing new music, Sam Fender has released the debut single and title track from his upcoming third album, People Watching. The record will arrive on February 21st, 2025, via Polydor.
The new single is a five-minute anthem from the Geordie hero, blending sleek production with a wistful but driving beat, catchy riff, the passionate chimes of the piano, and some of Johnny ‘Blue Hat’ Davis’s trusty sax. Taking from his spiritual brothers in arms Bruce Springsteen and The War on Drugs, the song also contains another big chorus from Fender.
‘People Watching’ was written in honour of Fender’s late friend Annie Orwin, and it tells the story of him visiting her in a care home. He revealed the experience behind the song in an Instagram post last week, writing it is about somebody who was “like a surrogate mother to me and passed away last November. I was by her side at the end, slept on a chair next to her. It’s about what was going through my head, to and from that place and home.”
He continued: “It’s kind of ironic because she was the one that gave me the confidence to go on stage, and always used to be like ‘why haven’t you mentioned my name in your acceptance speech’. But now an entire song (and album) connects to her. I hope that wherever she is now she’s looking down saying ‘about time kid’.”
People Watching was recorded in London last year, with Fender and bandmates Dean Thompson and Joe Atkinson sharing production duties. Fittingly, the album also features the talent of The War on Drugs leader Adam Granduciel.
Fender is scheduled to commence a tour of the UK and Ireland in December, before moving onto an extended European tour in July next year. The first sold-out leg runs from December 2nd in Dublin to December 20th in Newcastle.
In addition to returning to the live circuit, Fender is using his performances for a good cause. £1 from every ticket sold for the tour will be donated to the Music Venue Trust, the organisation that fights to support and improve grassroots music venues and the broader live music sector across the country.
What has Sam Fender said about ‘People Watching’?
The upcoming Fender album, People Watching, is described as “his next steps forward”. It promises to to deliver “colourful stories and observations of everyday characters living their everyday, but often extraordinary, lives.”
His third effort is the follow-up to 2021’s widely celebrated UK number one, Seventeen Going Under. Speaking to Sky Arts, he previously maintained that he “rushed” the last record. That meant that when he realised the band were falling into the same habits, they had to change their course of action. “[For] the third one we started rushing and I thought, ‘No, we have got to take the time,’” he said.
He explained the delay in getting the album out was caused by taking their time to create a project they thought was watertight, rather than rushing to get it out as soon as possible and rueing missed opportunities after. Fender said: “We have been recording and recording and making loads of stuff but it got to the point where I thought, ‘We don’t need to get this out yet. We need to get it right.’
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.