Sam Fender – People Watching (Indie Exclusive, Blue Yolk)

Hailing from northeast England, Fender is a British songwriter with a penchant for euphoric, hard-hitting guitar anthems. Bursting onto the scene with a BRITs Critics’ Choice win in 2018, his first two albums, Hypersonic Missiles (2019) and Seventeen Going Under (2021), both debuted at Number 1 on the UK’s Official Albums Chart and earned Platinum status. With over two billion global streams, Fender has headlined stadiums in Newcastle, toured arenas across the UK and Ireland, and headlined at major festivals like Reading/Leeds, while also supporting icons like The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen. 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.