Album Review: People Watching by Sam Fender

With his Geordie twang and knack for storytelling, with People Watching, Sam Fender has created an album for the history books. The title track sets the nostalgic tone for the record as Fender reminisces walking to and from the care home of someone close to him. Similar to his earlier success of Seventeen Going Under, the catchy track sounds upbeat and happy, but the lyrics tell a different story.

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Even as the stages have grown exponentially into yearly stadium/park-sized venues, the North Shields songwriter is still rattling around the same stomping grounds, but where before he was attacking the societal state writ large (2019's Hypersonic Missiles), before turning a bit more inwards (2021's Seventeen Going Under), now he's going proper granular. He's returning home after a handful of years filling those seats with bums ready to spectate the apparent heir to the Springsteen throne (UK Contingency) - a title he gallantly approaches with the opening five-minute soar of the anthemic titular track. People Watching spotlights perhaps Fender's biggest strength - his ability to inhabit others' stories.

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A confident if predictable third album that showcases the North Shields native’s strengths – and his reluctance to push beyond them Six years after the explosive debut of Hypersonic Missiles, Sam Fender's star has only risen. People Watching signals his embrace of mainstream success, but in doing so, it treads familiar ground – anthemic choruses and expansive production combined with stark social commentary. While the formula remains effective, its sharpness is beginning to fade.

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Following the success of Sam Fender’s sophomore album, Seventeen Going Under (2021), he found himself in a predicament. By that point, he had already supported the Rolling Stones in concert and completed a massive worldwide tour, only to return home to a sold-out crowd at Newcastle’s St. James Park for two nights running. Sure, it was everything he had dreamed about when wasting away his days in a call center, but, in his own words, “It was mad.

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Sam Fender has had a hell of a few years. Granted, with the release of his 2019 debut 'Hypersonic Missiles', he rocketed to the top of the charts, but the fervour that would unfold in the wake of its follow-up, 2021's 'Seventeen Going Under' was still hard to comprehend. Graduating rapidly to festival headliner, and bagging a slew of awards along the way, his step up to a bonafide stadium artist has been swift.
 It's little surprise as to why; on 'Seventeen Going Under' the North Shields songsmith penned a series of powerful, poignant offerings that dug deep into the heart of working class struggle, with the kind of consideration and compassion that only can only ever come via real life experience.

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Sam Fender's third studio album, 'People Watching', was introduced harmoniously with the heartland rock title track. Released in late 2024, 'People Watching' doesn't see Fender neglect his natural aptitude for social commentary, explored on previous albums 'Hypersonic Missiles' and 'Seventeen Going Under'. Instead Fender adapts a state of sentimentality when retrospectively drawing from his upbringing in North Shields.

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