Sam Fender - 'People Watching' • DIY Magazine

Sam Fender’s appearance on the 2025 Mercury Prize shortlist may come as little surprise, but instead marks the next milestone for a songwriter who has already soundtracked a generation, while reshaping what it means to come from the North East. If his debut was the tale of a local lad going hypersonic, and its follow-up tracking a turbulent, stratospheric ascent, then his third full-length is a steadier voyage. Vast in scale, calmer, more reflective; an album that pauses mid-journey to look out the window.

From the moment lead single ‘People Watching’ arrived, it was clear that something had shifted. The track carries the propulsion of his earlier work but with a new undercurrent of melancholy. “I used to feel there was a world worth dreamin’ of,” he sighs, watching the hope of others from a distance he can no longer bridge. That move - from documenting his past to interrogating his present - sets the tone for the whole album, and a new era.

Across eleven tracks, Fender voices thoughts fans had only guessed at before. ‘Nostalgia’s Lie’ finds him wrestling with the life he’s built, still uneasy with its implications. ‘TV Dinner’ snarls at celebrity worship, revealing gratitude and guilt in equal measure. Both offer raw transparency from someone often cast as a generational voice - the kind of honesty we demand from our idols, even if we rarely deserve it.

Vast in scale, calmer, more reflective; an album that pauses mid-journey to look out the window.

Yet, the album isn’t self-centred or wallowing in spirit. After the tentative self-talk of ‘Chin Up’, he shakes off regret with the buoyant ‘Rein Me In’, and balances romance and devastation in the addictive ‘Arm’s Length’. Fender shows you can confess your darkest doubts while still writing songs built for stadium singalongs, tailor-made for crowds of 50,000 and more. Connection, though, remains the album’s beating heart, inseparable from the North East. From house parties to abandoned suburbs, he captures the texture of home with a poignant precision. The Springsteen comparisons will never vanish, but here they feel earned and not limiting: Fender has crystallised into a uniquely Geordie songsmith, widescreen and wistful without relying on the American reference point.

The record also doubles as a statement of self-sufficiency. Co-produced with longtime bandmates Joe and Dean, with a hand from The War On Drugs’ Adam Granduciel, it’s unmistakably homegrown. The songs are sweeping enough for stadiums but sharp under close inspection - grit and grandeur in equal measure, just like Newcastle, and much like Fender himself.

Sam Fender isn’t just one of British rock’s biggest names; ‘People Watching’ proves him a careful steward of his roots and influence. And as the 2025 Mercury Prize itself has pivoted away from London for the first time - to Newcastle of all places - that only underlines his impact. He has almost single-handedly put the Toon back on the musical map - not just for his own benefit, but for the benefit of a whole generation of North Eastern musicians. That, ultimately, is what the Mercury Prize celebrates: an album that captures a moment, articulates it honestly, and reshapes the culture around it.

DIY has teamed up with LNER - the Official Travel Partner of the 2025 Mercury Prize Newcastle - to celebrate the power of journeys, both musical and literal. Read our full 2025 Mercury Prize Newcastle special edition below.

Tags: Features, Sam Fender