![\"Fender](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/62150.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nOn Thursday Sam Fender added the Mercury music prize to a mantelpiece already adorned with three Brit awards and an Ivor Novello award. People Watching, the 31-year-old\u2019s third studio album, was a surprise winner \u2013 beating bookies\u2019 favourites CMAT and Fontaines DC.<\/p>\n
The album has allowed Fender, who grew up in North Shields, Tyne and Wear, to settle into his status as the \u201cGeordie Springsteen\u201d following his critically acclaimed 2019 debut album Hypersonic Missiles and 2021\u2019s Seventeen Going Under. He accepted the award at the Newcastle Arena to the sound of United chants.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s Fender in his own words, taken from the album:<\/p>\n
\u2018I stayed all night till you left this life, cos that\u2019s just love\u2019<\/p>\n
People Watching<\/p>\n
The title track of People Watching is a searing opener about the parlous state of palliative care homes (\u201cThe place was falling to bits, understaffed and overruled by callous hands\u201d). It was written for Annie Orwin, whom Fender called \u201ca surrogate mother in a lot of ways\u201d and who died in October 2023. Orwin was an actor and starred in the Newcastle-based teen drama Byker Grove, and Fender said he wrote it as Orwin would \u201calways complain about me not ever mentioning her\u201d. He dedicated his prize on Thursday to her.<\/p>\n
\u2018I don\u2019t wear the shoes I used to walk in\u2019<\/p>\n
Crumbling Empire<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been a friend for many, many years and it\u2019s incredible to see him grow into being a truly world class artist.\u201d So said Elton John of Fender after he released the single Talk to You, on which Elton is a featured artist, the day after he picked up his Mercury Award.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a far cry from his early career, gigging while pouring pints at the Low Lights Tavern in North Shields. Fender\u2019s second album detailed the struggles he faced growing up, including his mother\u2019s battle with fibromyalgia, their financial difficulties, and his own feelings of helplessness. Now Fender\u2019s star power is such that Elton is a pal \u2013 and Andrew Scott and Adolescence breakout star Owen Cooper feature in the music videos for People Watching and Little Bit Closer respectively. It\u2019s a new reality he battles with in his third album.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fender celebrates winning the Mercury Music Prize<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m selfish and I\u2019m lonely, arm\u2019s length, small talk, and then some company\u2019<\/p>\n
Arm\u2019s Length<\/p>\n
Fender has previously credited his ADHD for maintaining occasional states of hyper-focus, calling it a \u201csuperpower\u201d in a 2021 interview. Arm\u2019s Length is emblematic of this \u2013 having started out as a \u201csilly guitar riff\u201d at 9pm in the studio one night, the whole song was written and recorded by 3am. \u201cYou have songs like that that just come out of nowhere,\u201d he told Variety.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s that time of the year again when your past comes home, and everybody I\u2019ve ever known wants it large\u2019<\/p>\n
Wild Long Lie<\/p>\n
The musician is proudly dedicated to his roots. In March, when Newcastle United defender Dan Burn scored an opening header against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final, helping the Magpies win their first trophy for 70 years, the name of another local hero could be seen on the back of his shirt: Sam Fender. The limited edition shirts were then auctioned for local community projects through Newcastle United\u2019s official charity.<\/p>\n
Fender crowned the UK leg of the People Watching tour with three sold-out shows at St James Park, home of the Magpies. Burn joined him on stage, wielding the Carabao Cup.<\/p>\n
\u2018The cold permeates the neonatal baby, can\u2019t heat the place for fucking love nor\u00a0money\u2019<\/p>\n
Chin Up<\/p>\n
As in his previous albums, the themes of class and politics are woven throughout People Watching. Its artwork features photography from the acclaimed social documentarian Tish Murtha, whose work highlights working-class life and the plight of marginalised communities. Chin Up sees Fender reflect on those left behind as he sings: \u201cMy friends at home are in pain, chucky debt, God, I hate cocaine\u2026 our Jackie navigates through the penury, he lost his job again in January.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ll tell you stories, kiss your face, and I\u2019ll pray you\u2019ll remember my name\u2019<\/p>\n
Remember My Name<\/p>\n
The album closes with Remember My Name, a tender ballad written from the \u200b\u200bperspective of Fender\u2019s grandfather, who looked after his wife when she was living with dementia. The track is accompanied by the Easington Colliery Brass Band. The band\u2019s secretary, Peter Lawson, said Fender had become so emotional when he heard the band rehearse the song that he asked if he could sing it live alongside them.<\/p>\n
Photographs by\u00a0Matt Jelonek\/Getty, Euan Cherry\/Getty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Thursday Sam Fender added the Mercury music prize to a mantelpiece already adorned with three Brit awards…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-236281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}