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English singer Sam Fender’s album People Watching drops tomorrow.
According to the artist, the album explores ‘colourful stories and observations of everyday characters living their everyday, but often extraordinary lives’.
This is represented by its artwork, which features a photograph by the late social documentary photographer Tish Murtha, who kept a log of marginalised communities and the working-class life in Newcastle City in the UK.
The namesake lead single, which released in November last year, was written in honour of Sam’s late mentor and friend Annie Orwin, and narrates his perspective of visiting her at a care home.
“The track is about somebody who was like a surrogate mother to me and passed away last November,” Sam said in a statement.
“I was by her side at the end, slept on a chair next to her. It’s about what was going through my head, to and from that place and home.
“It’s kind of ironic because she was the one that gave me the confidence to go on stage, and always used to be like ‘why haven’t you mentioned my name in your acceptance speech’.
“But now, an entire song and album connects to her. I hope that wherever she is now she’s looking down saying ‘about time, kid’,” he added.
The artist discovered his passion for music as a teenager and started releasing singles in 2017.
His sound is heavily inspired by American roots music, while also combining it with British rock. He is recognised for his high tenor voice and Geordie accent.
His first full-length album Hypersonic Missiles debuted in 2019 at number one on the UK and Scottish Albums Charts, and number six on the Irish Albums Chart.
The album also received widespread acclaim from music critics, earning an average score of 81 out of 100 on Metacritic.
