If Seventeen Going Under – Fender’s sophomore album and second to debut at Number 1 on the UK’s Official Albums Chart – was his “coming of age” album, his forthcoming work is his next step – colorful stories and observations of everyday characters living their everyday, but often extraordinary, lives. Sam produced People Watching alongside bandmates Dean Thompson and Joe Atkinson over two years, working first in London in 2023 with producer Markus Dravs, and then earlier this year in Los Angeles with Granduciel. People Watching will be released on February 21, 2025, via Capitol Records.
The album and single artwork for People Watching was shot by the renowned social documentary photographer Tish Murtha, who documented marginalized communities and working-class life in Newcastle upon Tyne. Pre-order HERE. View the album trailer HERE.
Fender announced a North American leg of the People Watching Tour, which he’ll kick off at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver on April 5, 2025. The North American headline shows will give fans a rare opportunity to see Fender perform in intimate settings. The first leg of the tour, which sold out in less than an hour, will bring Sam to arenas across the UK and Ireland this December. His sold-out European tour will follow in March 2025.
Hailing from northeast England, Fender is a British songwriter with a penchant for euphoric, hard- hitting guitar anthems. Out of the gate, he won the BRITs Critics’ Choice award at the end of 2018 and released Hypersonic Missiles, his debut album, the next year. His sophomore effort, 2021’s Seventeen Going Under, was pronounced “stunning” by Rolling Stone UK, which tapped him for the cover of its first issue. Both albums debuted at Number 1 on the UK’s Official Albums Chart and have been certified Platinum in Britain.
To date, Fender has amassed over two billion combined global streams, two million adjusted album sales worldwide and a slew of awards, including two BRITs, two NME awards and an Ivor Novello. Over the past few years, he has headlined two stadium shows in his hometown of Newcastle as well as arenas throughout the UK and Ireland and festivals such as Reading/Leeds and Boardmasters. Fender has also supported The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen across Europe, sold out venues across the U.S. and played Lollapalooza and Outside Lands. Hailed as “one of Britain’s biggest music stars” by The New York Times, Fender turns his own experience into art that speaks to and resonates with all of us, like only a truly great songwriter can.
