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Every Song From Sam Fender’s ‘People Watching’ Album Ranked: Critic’s Picks
Sam Fender's 'People Watching' is out now and showcases some of the finest songs of the North Shields' musician's career.
Arriving as the record’s penultimate track, he adds that the fiddle-aided jam “is a plea to look after each other – a p–shead’s anthem for togetherness.” When he sings of those managing depression – and in some cases, taking their own life – it feels like a begrudging sequel to his 2018 single “Dead Boys,” which tackled the mental health crisis in northern towns like the one he grew up in. Here, Fender offers tall tales to keep the party going, but there’s regret and longing for a life that’s passed him by amidst the sesh: “I’ve gone quiet ’cause my heart is still choking up from a love I tore apart.” He spirals as the melancholy seeps out of him, and the song sprawls out into a six-minute epic. Built around tense synths and strings, Fender references the late Amy Winehouse ( “They love her now/ But bled her then”), hits back at the privately educated (“ Posh c–-t had me irate/ Said, ‘We’re all the same”), and fame’s hangers-on ( “The moths, the snakes, the tiny waistcoat tail riders”).
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