Sam Fender puts Vulnerability Front and Centre on People Watching
People Watching is a raw, honest and profound record which secures Fender’s spot as one of the greatest songwriters of our generation.
A number one debut album, stratospheric success with Seventeen Going Under and back-to-back dates headlining his beloved St James’ Park – Sam Fender had a lot to live up to in his third record. Three years in the making, People Watching has been highly-anticipated by fans since he first teased the title track on socials back in October.
Produced by The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel, this record continues to explore themes previously heard in his first two albums, while distancing himself from the first-hand experiences he has previously written about.
The title and opening track, People Watching, takes a look at life in his hometown – North Shields – from a more contemplative and detached point of view.
The anthemic chorus: ‘I see the whole town fall / I people watch on the way back home’, alongside the vulnerable lyrics about losing someone close to you: ‘And I’ll hold you in my heart til the day I die’, encapsulates Sam’s ability to create stadium-worthy songs without shying away from the honest, retrospective storytelling that makes his music so special.
Wild Long Lie, released back in December, is a self-critical anthem reflecting on returning back to your hometown and regressing back into old habits. Performing it every night during his December arena tour, this track has become a fan favourite. Sam explained to the crowd: “It was one of the first ones we did for the album, we’ve had it for ages – as soon as we finished Seventeen.”
The lyrics delve into the love-hate relationship you have with the place you grew up in: ‘I think I need to leave this town / Before I go down.”
Sam’s vulnerable lyricism shines through in tracks like Arm’s Length and Rein Me In. ‘Arm’s length, small talk and then some company / Do you have to know me inside out?,’ Sam sings about his struggles with his avoidant attachment style when it comes to relationships. Rein Me In explores the more folky side of the album, showcasing some of his best songwriting on the record: ‘All my memories of you ring like tinnitus, ‘Every flagstone of this town bears our prints / And all the bars round here serve my ghosts in carcasses’.
Fender continues to explore political discourses in his music, and in Crumbling Empire, he reflects on the disasters capitalism has placed on his northern town. ‘My old man worked on the rail yard / Getting his trade on the electrical board / It got privatised, the work degraded / In this crumbling empire’.
Chin Up’s acoustic guitar introduction is reminiscent of Oasis, taking on anuplifting perspective while living in a struggling society: ‘I keep moving to the rhythm of it / Can’t be responsible for everybody.’
TV Dinner, a piano ballad, is lyrically and thematically reminiscent of one of his earlier tracks. White Privilege. Its fast-paced and clever lyricism represent a feeling of chaos and panic: ‘The rigmarole, the tortured soul / The constant spin, the merry-go-round.’ Little Bit Closer and Something Heavy are some of the more upbeat tracks on the album, highlighting Sam’s talents in delivering joyful sounding songs that carry heavier themes.
Sam closes the album with Remember My Name – a song dedicated to his late grandparents, written from the perspective of his grandad who was looking after his grandma when she was living with dementia. Deeply personal, Sam references ‘11 Wark Avenue’: ‘To them it’s a council house / To me it’s a home / And a home that you made / Where the grandkids could play’. The haunting sounds of the Easington Colliery Band (a North Eastern miners band, not far from Sam’s hometown) makes the track even more poignant and ends the album with a feeling of nostalgia.
Of course, Fender’s iconic sax sound is carried all through the album thanks to his bandmate, Johnny ‘Bluehat’ Davis, while still managing to create a fresh sound that makes this new record feel much more mature and developed than his previous work.
As a whole, the album’s emotive and poignant narratives demonstrate how Sam’s vulnerability has led him to become one of the UK’s biggest stars. Hosting the perfect blend of catchy guitar riffs, anthemic choruses and captivating lyrics – this record is set to go down a storm at his stadium shows this summer.
