Atwood Magazine’s writers dive into the explosive storytelling and sonic ambition of Sam Fender’s third album ‘People Watching’ – a bold, soul-stirring record that captures everyday lives in vivid (and poetic) detail, cements his evolution beyond the Springsteen comparisons, and finds him at his most introspective, nuanced, and electrifying.
Featured here are Atwood writers Emily Algar, Christine Buckley, Mitch Mosk, and Sam Franzini!
— —
To start, what is your relationship with Sam Fender’s music?
Sam Franzini: I had no idea who this guy was until I saw him on the front page of AOTY.org — where I get most of my new music recommendations. It got pretty good reviews, so I decided to take a listen, and fell in love pretty quickly.
Emily Frances Algar: All the credit goes to my younger sister for introducing me to Sam Fender. It was his songs, “Play God” and “White Privilege” that got me hooked. The former is his best song to date in my opinion. I then fell in love with “Spit Of You” off Seventeen Going Under. The lyric, “’Cause it was love/ In all its agony” is one of my favourite pieces of songwriting. And now People Watching is now on repeat in my house.
As someone who grew up poor but in a very middle class town, I really connect with Fender’s music; the same for my sister. You don’t ever leave that vulnerability being poor behind.. You don’t forget it, which is something I can relate to with Fender’s music, particularly on his new record.
Christine Buckley: He was among the first UK artists I discovered to get my mind off the pandemic in 2020, when I was going pretty crazy cooped up with young kids and working wild hours. His music was one of the reasons my taste shifted from folk and acoustic stuff to harder rock–probably because I had so much pent-up frustration and rage. Hypersonic Missiles had just been released and it hit those themes especially well; I was impressed by “Dead Boys” and “White Privilege,” tracks that took direct aim at issues we don’t often see working-class white dudes handle.
Mitch Mosk: I suppose Sam Fender first came onto my radar back in 2019, when Atwood Magazine published a review of his song “Poundshop Kardashians” (shoutout to Hermione for that introduction). That’s long before his debut album Hypersonic Missiles came out, around the time that his debut EP Dead Boys was making the rounds, and I’ll admit, I heard him and was more than happy to hail the second coming of Springsteen, no questions asked… I respect all those artists who stand on the shoulders of giants. That said, it really wasn’t until “Hypersonic Missiles” (the song and the album) came out that I recognized Fender as a true needle in a haystack – a powerhouse singer, songwriter, and storyteller. By the time Seventeen Going Under came out, I was a proper full-fledged fan. Every year since then, sometime around spring and summer, I go through a Sam Fender phase, blasting his energizing anthems nonstop. To me, his music life-giving – an invigorating injection of sweet sonic adrenaline – and even when he’s singing about moments of darkness, angst, and pain, there’s a throughline of hope and light that I can’t help but find utterly refreshing.
What are your initial impressions and reactions to People Watching?
Sam: It’s so interesting and impressive — it’s like bringing soul to indie rock? It reminds me of Jack Antonoff with Bruce Springsteen and each song is so carefully crafted. Each instrument comes in at the perfect time, if that makes sense — no stone is unturned.
Christine: My first impression was that I can sure hear Adam Granduciel’s (The War On Drugs) influence in the production, in a very good way. It’s got that thick, building, shoegazey thing, which is a shift for Fender, but for fans of that “wall of sound” vibe it’s a joy. The album is also incredibly lyrically dense. Fender’s always been poetic, but here the words come fast and in large amounts, and beg for several listens to get it all. It reminds me of Grian Chatten of Fontaines DC, but a bit less dark.
Mitch: They – I don’t know who “they” are – but they say your third album is the “one” where you really get to present your artistic vision in a fully realized and rounded way. The debut album is a learning curve, and the sophomore album is often a reaction to the first one – and I think it’s safe to say that while Hypersonic Missiles and Seventeen Going Under are phenomenal records in their own right, People Watching feels like it’s achieving a next level of accomplishment, in presenting Fender’s thoughts and feelings in this cohesive album that really does tell a story of societal and inner conflict on that macro and micro scale. All of this is to say that I absolutely love this album, and feel like it presents a mature, yet nonetheless youthful and driven, portrait of a now 30-year-old Sam Fender, fully in his prime.
How does this album compare to Sam’s past records Hypersonic Missiles and Seventeen Going Under – what are the most striking similarities or differences?
Emily: It’s a continuation, an evolution of his music and songwriting. His sound hasn’t massively deviated, but who he was when he wrote Hypersonic Missiles is gone, and he acknowledges this on the new record. He doesn’t pretend to be the same person, but at the same time he can’t escape it.
Christine: People Watching has fewer intense, angry moments than Hypersonic Missiles or Seventeen Going Under, which has made some critics think it’s watered-down. But the fewer raging moments it has are that much more poignant, like on “TV Dinner,” where he lambasts the music industry and name-checks one of his idols, Amy Winehouse. And I quite agree with Emily: for someone who has built his career on authenticity, it’s not surprising he’s struggled to accept a new identity built on success, and that wrestling writes itself into these songs.
Mitch: Like I said earlier, it’s fully realized. To me, the first two albums felt like collectiongs of songs – great songs, at that! – but this one feels like it has a greater ‘mission’ or ‘purpose.’ Maybe I’m just People Watching pilled at this point, having listened to it so many times on repeat, but there’s a cohesion to these eleven tracks help make them feel like they’re of their own world – in a cinematic universe of their own.
Fender teased People Watching with a slew of singles – “People Watching,” “Wild Long Lie,” “Arm’s Length,” and “Remember My Name.” Are these singles faithful representations of the album, and do any stand out as capturing the spirit of the album?
Sam: I think “People Watching” is the best reflection of the album, which is maybe why it’s the album title. It’s a really stunning portrait of coming back to your home to find that everything has changed, in ways expected and ones you never could have imagined. While the title track concerns the more vague descriptor “people,” “Wild Long Lie” gets granular, depicting scenes in the bathroom at a party and using proper nouns (“Jimmy’s in my ear again with a motormouth”). Zooming in and out to set a satisfying landscape is so clever and effective.
Emily: I have to agree with Sam. I think “People Watching” is the best reflection of the overall sound/theme of the record. The other singles, including “Wild Long Lie” and “Remember My Name” also offered slices of sound and storytelling to expect on the record.
The lyric, “Above the rain-soaked Garden of Remembrance/ Kittiwakes etched your initials in the sky/ Oh, I fear for this crippled island and the turmoil of the times/ And I’ll hold you in my heart ’til the day I die” is like a punch to the stomach, because it’s about death of loved one, death of your country, and death of the past all at once.
Christine: It’s interesting – I have to disagree with Sam here. On its own, the “People Watching” single sounded to me like it belonged on Seventeen Going Under, and made me worry a repeat of that album was on the way–not that that would have been so terrible, but I do like to see a great artist’s sound evolve. Then came “Wild Long Lie,” a ballsy six-minute single with meandering guitars, Johnny Blue Hat’s wailing sax, and the first sniff of Granduciel’s magic. That perked me up. “Arm’s Length” then showed the hypnotic motif repetitions and nostalgic, krautrocky feel that, for me, fully brought us into the vibe of the album. Perhaps that release order was purposeful, to slowly transition people from Fender’s previous sound to his new one.
People Watching has been billed as an album of “colorful stories and observations of everyday characters living their everyday, but often extraordinary, lives.” Does this description capture the spirit of these songs, and where do you hear or feel it most?
Sam: Totally — he reminds me of MJ Lenderman in these precise, cutting scenes of contemporary Britain. These interesting characters are given space to grow and form through often very short lines — it’s a testament to the really strong writing. I think even though “Crumbling Empire” most unsubtly reaches for this style of writing, it still works.
Emily: Agreed!
Christine: Sam’s been good at this from the start – even way back on the track “Hypersonic Missiles,” he morphs into a character whose everyday but somehow grotesque personality provides a foil for all that’s wrong with the world. Small towns remain an endless well for him; their insularity breeds everything from bigotry and addiction to lifelong love and community in Fender’s lyrics. I agree with Sam that it’s at times unsubtle – “Nostalgia’s Lie” is a bit on the nose–but on the whole he keeps painting portraits that we can picture in our own lives.
Mitch: Wholeheartedly agreed – he’s a fantastic storyteller of the everyday, and I think that’s what helps make all of his songs feel so real and relatable.
Since his debut, Sam Fender has been hailed, fairly or unfairly. as the second coming of Springsteen; does this title continue to hold true? How do you feel about that label, now so many years into his career?
Sam: I feel like that’s really interesting and partially true, as long as Sam identifies with it and agrees. He definitely encapsulates a strange sort of patriotism as Springsteen that isn’t too leagured or corny — it’s just music to make you feel great. Like with any other indie rocker, I think he’s a mix of a lot of different people, but Springsteen does feel like an essential part of his DNA.
Emily: I do get the comparison to Springsteen but, in my opinion, I think it’s a lazy comparison. I find him closer to Jason Isbell or Townes Van Zandt in terms of songwriting and storytelling. Springsteen’s writing is a zoomed out view of the American working class, whereas Isbell and Van Zandt’s songwriting zoom in on the details; the lives of individuals, places, experiences, which is something Fender does exquisitely.
Fender is from a deprived area in North Shields, which has basically been left to rot by subsequent governments. There’s no opportunity for young people and nothing to look forward to, but at the same time, from Fender’s storytelling, it’s a place that’s rich in culture and community. Fender captures this desolation, past and present, without resorting to stereotypes. There his people.
Christine: In his early career it was certainly true, since Fender didn’t yet have a lot of music out there and the themes and sounds certainly overlapped. But now after album three, notably sounding the least like Springsteen, I agree with Emily that the comparison is lazy. Supposedly Fender has joked that he doesn’t love the comparison anymore because he’s also “ripped off loads of other people.” In other words, he’s got a wide array of influences, and that’s certainly becoming more clear as he releases more music.
Mitch: Again, I think the comparisons are warranted and I’m completely okay with them – Springsteen’s sound is timeless for a reason, and if I had it my way, loads more artists would pull inspiration from the likes of ‘Born to Run’ and ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’ – but I feel like at this point, eight years in, Sam Fender has established an identifiable sound and come into his own as a rock artist, and he should be able to own his corner of the universe without The Boss’ shadow hanging overhead.
Which song(s) stand out for you on the album, and why?
Mitch: “Chin Up,” hands down (pun intended). Going to pull from my recent Editor’s Picks here: “There’s nothing like the power of ‘hope’ – that intimate, emotional sunlight that shines from within. It’s intoxicating, it’s energizing, and it’s what makes Sam Fender’s ‘Chin Up’ as irresistible as it is inspirational. The [album’s] third track is raw hope manifest in song: A rousing, spirited, emotionally charged anthem of passion and perseverance, unfiltered determination and limitless drive. It’s a song that acknowledges life’s real hardships and the importance of introspection, all while soldiering on, no matter what. You might even say it’s the embedment of that famous wartime Britishism, “Keep Calm and Carry On.'”
Because even when things are at their darkest, we must all try to keep our chin up – or as another famous rocker once sang, “no retreat, baby, no surrender.” He’s channeled Springsteen’s sound one or twice before, yet on “Chin Up,” Fender comes into his own with a personal affirmation to walk tall and hold his head high, even when it’s “bent on bringing me down.” I think Sam Fender’s lyrics have proven to be wise – and prescient – words at this juncture in 2025, when dark times only seem to be getting darker. We could all stand to learn a lesson from “Chin Up” as we move through life, one day, one step, at a time.
I’m also going to throw “Crumbling Empire” into the mix as my second-favorite track; it’s brooding, it’s got an intoxicating beat, and it’s an honest, aching, all-too-real ode to the fractures of late-stage capitalism that have been revealing themselves in places like the UK and the United States over the past however many years. I read someone else describing this track as a “whole falling from grace,” and that just feels all too fitting for the year 2025… It’s true to Sam Fender’s Britain, and it’s true to my experiences and travels throughout my native New York state, from parts of the city that that have been abandoned and are literally crumbling, to once-great, revered, and now-abandonded working class / labor towns upstate that enjoyed their glory days some 50 (and sometimes more) years ago. But to hear the fall expressed so poignantly and poetically through Fender’s lens is really unsettling – and, if I’m being honest, upsetting:
It’s one for me,
and one for the dead,
and one for my crumbling empire
I’m not preaching, I’m just talking
I don’t wear the shoes I used to walk in
But I can’t help thinking where they’d take me
In this crumbling empire
Sam: “Wild Long Lie” is so inventive and great — it’s more than perfect when the sax comes in at the end. The synthy and electronic elements that kick in during the long slow burn… it feels pretty freeing and grand in a way that a lot of modern music just isn’t. The piano that kicks off each chorus gets more affecting each time.
Emily: Like Sam, I have to say “Wild Long Lie.” It’s beautiful and ambiguous. It’s so full of longing and really could be about anything. I have my own interpretation of the song, as I’m sure everyone else does. The line that gets me the most is, “It’s that time of the year again, when your past comes home”. And like Sam says, it’s the piano kicking off each chorus that pulls at your soul.
Christine: Well, okay, “Wild Long Lie” is also a favorite of mine but for the sake of variety I’ll go with “TV Dinner,” which has such a mundane title for an emotional gut-punch of a song. It reminds me in sound and theme of one of my other favorite Fender tracks, “Use,” about feeling manipulated and exploited for others’ benefit. It’s also easy to forget that Fender’s not just a songwriter and guitarist but a decent pianist, and I tend to love when the piano breaks through in these tracks, like on “The Dying Light” and “Poltergeists.”
Do you have any favorite lyrics so far? Which lines stand out?
Sam: “Sometimes it’s healthier to wallow in it.”
“Everybody’s dying for their turn to pull out anecdotes fraught with bloody lies.”
“I was holding on hope for a kind of friend / Oh, the blazing inferno of f*-ups kind of got in my way.”
Emily: “It’s that time of the year again, when your past comes home.”
“Above the rain-soaked Garden of Remembrance/ Kittiwakes etched your initials in the sky/ Oh, I fear for this crippled island and the turmoil of the times/ And I’ll hold you in my heart ’til the day I die.”
“I’m not preaching, I’m just talking/ I don’t wear the shoes I used to walk in”
“Every flagstone of this town bears our prints/ And all the bars round here serve my ghosts and carcasses/ I wish I knew these things when I was young”
Christine: From “Remember My Name,” I like:
I’m not sure of what awaits
Wasn’t a fan of Saint Peter and his gates
But, by God, I pray
That I’ll see you in some way
Mitch: The “Chin Up” refrain, as direct and simple as it seems, resonated with me the first time, the tenth time, and the twentieth time. I think there’s power in that kind of naked, earnest, unfiltered honesty:
I will try to keep my chin up
Oh, my head is bent on bringing me down
Under the floorboards of this broken home
This one-horse town
Chin up, I’m dancing to the rhythm of it
Sometimes it’s healthier to wallow in it
Where do you feel People Watching sits in the pantheon of Sam Fender’s discography?
Christine: Fender overcame–actually overachieved–the usual sophomore album expectations and pressure with the insanely successful Seventeen Going Under. That bar was so high it was always going to be hard to meet or exceed. I’d wager that after that success, Fender said “alreet, that’s sorted, now I’m gonna do what the f* I want.” The result is a more nuanced album that won’t break fans’ obsession with Seventeen, but is still a great album with more influences, more expansive sounds, and a reflective approach that brings the 30-year-old singer into what I bet will be the prime of his career.
Emily: People Watching feels closer to Hypersonic Missiles than Seventeen Going Under. I think it has to do with the intimacy of the storytelling. The music is more restrained than his previous records, but that tends to happen with an artist’s discography. For me, the record fits perfectly into his continued evolution.
Mitch: To me, it feels like he’s unlocked a new level of his own artistry; honestly I just can’t wait for him to keep digging deeper and delivering more stories and songs. At this point, all three of his albums have done gangbusters, each with its own slew of hits, and I think People Watching continues Sam Fender’s nonstop upward trajectory. What’s most exciting for me, right now as I type this, is how much more potential I hear in this album – I think it’s going to have much longer legs than folks expect. Thus far the title track and a few pre-release singles have really popped off, but then you’ve got “Chin Up,” “Crumbling Empire” (my second favorite), “Rein Me In,” and “Nostalgia’s Lie” – each of which, I expect, will make its way into our collective conscious before the “era” is through.
But whatever happens, I’m coming along for the ride. Sam Fender has proven himself a faithful voice for his generation – my generation – and I’m just happy to get to bear witness to his musical journey, as it’s unfolding in front of us, in real time.
— —
:: stream/purchase People Watching here ::
:: connect with Sam Fender here ::
— —
“Arm’s Length” – Sam Fender
— — — —
Connect to Sam Fender on
Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram
Discover new music on Atwood Magazine
© Sarah Louise Bennett
© Sarah Louise Bennett
People Watching
an album by Sam Fender
