Album Review: ‘People Watching’ by Sam Fender

Have you ever discovered any artist and heard one song that made you sit up and think, “oh this is absolutely my shit” only to then hear the entire album and be disappointed? This was something that I think was way more common in the pre-streaming era. For example, back in 1995 I remember seeing a music video on MTV’s 120 Minutes for this killer punk song “Soulmate” by No Use for a Name. So we went out and picked up the CD ¡Leche con Carne!, and outside of “Soulmate” and the 80s cover melody hidden track, I hated it. I know that it is considered a classic and that Tony Sly (R.I.P.) was a very talented songwriter, but I could not get into it at all. There was an interesting phenomenon in the early days of both Fat Wreck Chords (the label that released ¡Leche con Carne!) and Epitaph Records. They both released albums by bands that sounded a LOT like the label founders (NOFX for Fat and Bad Religion for Epitaph). A great example from Epitaph was the band Pennywise. We picked up their 1993 album Unknown Road and while it had a few good songs, it was absolutely dollar store Bad Religion. And ¡Leche con Carne! to me sounded like a dollar store NOFX record. That was a record that I found to be greatly disappointing after loving one song from it.

So, my experience with Sam Fender wasn’t that extreme but it wasn’t all that different either. One of his songs popped up on Spotify after I’d finished listening to something else (probably Gang of Youths considering their similarities) and I loved it. I’m pretty sure it was “People Watching” but even if it wasn’t, I heard “People Watching” shortly thereafter and was blown away. The song is a soaring, heartfelt anthem and I love me some soaring, heartfelt anthems. The song was also the title track to Fender’s next album. I was immediately anticipating its release.

People Watching opens with the title track before going into “Nostalgia’s Lie” a song that starts off great but then just…takes a weird turn with the melody and tempo. It’s not a bad song at all but it’s not “People Watching.” And that was my experience with the entire album. The songs were good but often would zig when it felt like they should zag. Fender is often compared to Bruce Springsteen, who he admits is an all-time favorite and a huge influence. While I am no Springsteen expert, I do think the comparison fits. For those who have never heard Fender’s music, imagine if Springsteen and Gang of Youths had a kid that grew up in working class northern England.

Despite my frustrations with People Watching, it is the 2025 release that I have listened to the most so far this year. Also, when listening to it this morning for this review, I didn’t find some things as annoying as I did before. Maybe this is a case of falling for an album through sheer force of will (a common occurrence back in the CD era). No matter what, the title track is an incredible song and easily the album’s standout moment. Mileage may vary on the rest.