Recommended tracks: “Rein Me In” (featuring Olivia Dean), “Talk To You,” “Me and The Dog”
Artists you might like: DMA’s, Inhaler, The Snuts
Following the end of his world tour comprised of 56 shows across North America, Europe, UK, and Australia, Sam Fender has finished his time with People Watching with a deluxe version of the UK #1 album. With the eight additional songs, People Watching (Deluxe Edition) has both Olivia Dean and Elton John as features, and Fender makes a final reflection on both the world tour and changes in his personal life.
Volume 2 of the album starts with the acoustic “I’m Always On Stage.” A stark shift from the first volume of the album, the acoustic guitars layer on top of one another to create a myriad of string textures and melodies. “I’m Always On Stage” sees Fender struggle with the performance of being happy. In the chorus, the line “If you see me smiling, it’s forceful and violent,” highlights this performance, with the singer comparing his constant need for outward happiness to being “always on stage.” Recorded during the almost year-long world tour, the song can also be read as a tiredness of always being on the road and a desire for everything to slow down.
The first feature of the deluxe album is “Talk To You,” with music legend Elton John on piano. “Talk To You” sees the return of the rock stylings of the original album with the full band diving into the intro. A song about avoidance, the lyrics show a grief that has not yet been resolved, with Fender “evading the job of going through them boxes in the attic.”
Whether this loss is death or the end of a relationship can be debated as the chorus’s “I just wanna talk to you” suggests both. These differing interpretations of the lyrics only further highlight how well Fender is able to write about grief by being able to extract exact details of his own experience whilst still tugging at a universal feeling.
Acting as a sort of interlude in the deluxe version is “Fortuna’s Wheel.” Like “I’m Always On Stage,” the song is acoustic, with just Fender and his guitar, but the distance of the singer’s voice suggests a more demo-like recording. Also the shortest song on the album at just one minute and 43 seconds, “Fortuna’s Wheel” continues the persistent grasping of the past that the entire album explores with the reference to the wheel of fortune still deciding Fender’s fate.
The second feature is “Rein Me In” with Olivia Dean. An easy highlight of both the original album and the deluxe, Dean’s feature on the song offers a different perspective on the self-sabotaging lyrics, with the focus on how this self-sabotage manifests and affects other people.
In Dean’s verse, we see how Fender’s fear of attachment could be read by those around him with lines such as “there’s nothing brave in walking alone” and “you were scared to be held / took the easiest way out.” This perspective change from the original song gives both a break from the singular perspective of the album and an enhanced view of how these themes are not just introspective and internal.
“Me and The Dog” is another example of how Fender is able to create double meanings in his songs. “The dog” can both be read as a direct symbol for depression and an indirect allusion of loneliness, as “the dog” is the nickname for the Newcastle Brown Ale, a local drink from Fender’s North Shields home. Instrumentally, “Me and The Dog” has a greater focus on rhythm than the rest of the album with the syncopated beat capturing your attention.
As noted in “Rein Me In,” self-sabotage is a common theme and “Me and The Dog” is another song that fully dives into it, with Fender admitting “I don’t need a nemesis / I’ve got my hands full with myself.” The iconic saxophone of the original album also returns to centre stage in this song followed by a quick electric guitar solo in the bridge.
“Tyrants” has a more American rock sound compared to the rest of the deluxe tracks and also features the most hopeful lyrics of the album. A rallying cry against your own mind, the chorus calls for you to “Rail against the tyrants now / The ones who rattle in your head.” A reference to “Fortuna’s Wheel” is heard in the first verse with the line “On Fortuna’s wheel, I’m running / Trying to evade the low side of the road,” suggesting that despite the pitfalls of his life, Fender is still trying to make a better future for himself.
Another highlight of this album comes in the electrifying guitar solo of the song’s bridge which, despite its 15-second length, becomes one of the most memorable parts of the entire album. Brooke Bentham, the backing vocalist for most of the album, also deserves a mention in this song as her complementary tone with Fender’s voice is a highlight of the chorus.
In contrast to the American styling of “Tyrants,” “The Treadmill” takes notes from British rock of the early 2000s. In the song, Fender compares trying to move forward in life to being “on a treadmill tryna pull my shit together.” In constant movement but still being in the same place, the treadmill keeps Fender stuck in his past as he becomes more and more obsessed with trying to appear better for others: “Please God, give me a new complexion.”
“The Treadmill” also sees Johnny Davis back on the saxophone, giving a great solo in the instrumental bridge. This song best encapsulates the overall lyrical motifs of the album, balancing both the want for a better future and the fear of confronting the past: “All these little feelings / Feelings are keeping me from going on.”
“Empty Spaces” is the last song on People Watching (Deluxe Edition), with Fender accompanied by just a piano for most of the song. Fender takes one last look at the past and acknowledges the need to move on and change for the better. The use of past tense in the lyrics emphasises putting past failures behind him, rather than keeping them present as the rest of the album has. A slow build of washed-out strings and backing vocals enters in the last chorus as Fender finally takes steps to move towards reconciliation: “It’ll take a really long time to forgive all of my failures / And fill up all these empty spaces.”
Outside of the well-recorded and mixed instrumentation, Fender delivers vulnerable lyrics that both connect in their emotional simplicity and hide behind double meanings and entendres. As a deluxe album, the songs continue with the themes and sound of the original release whilst also showing a different approach to the aforementioned themes. Overall, People Watching (Deluxe Edition) showcases both what a deluxe album should be and what Sam Fender is able to deliver as a songwriter.
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