Music / Sam Fender

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Samuel "Sam" Thomas Fender (born 25 April 1994) is an English singer-songwriter from North Shields, Tyne & Wear who began his career in 2013. He is known for his high tenor voice and singing in his native Geordie accent.

After releasing an Extended Play in 2018, he found fame after releasing his debut album Hypersonic Missiles in 2019 and later Seventeen Going Under in 2022. A third album called People Watching, with The War on Drugs helping to produce the album, was released in February 2025 to further critical acclaim, leading to him winning the 2025 BRIT Awards for the Best Alternative Act with the Title Track.

His older brother Liam is also a music artist.

Discography:

• Dead Boys EP (2018)
• Hypersonic Missiles (2019)
• Seventeen Going Under (2021)
• Live From Finsbury Park (2022)
• People Watching (2025)
• Me and the Dog EP (EP, 2025)

This a high time for hypersonic tropes:

• Alliterative Title: "Friday Fighting".
• Animal Motifs: Magpies. An example is the cover of the Dead Boys EP, which is Sam holding the corpse of one.
• The Anti-Nihilist: In the Title Track of Hypersonic Missiles he mentions that although he doesn't see any "decent rhyme or reason" for existing, he still believes in what he's feeling.
  They say I'm a nihilist
  'Cause I can't see any decent rhyme or reason
  For the life of you and me
  But I believe in what I'm feeling
  And I'm firing for you
  This world is gonna end
  But 'til then, I'll give you everything I have
  I'll give you everything I have
• Audience Participation Song: Live performances of "Hypersonic Missiles" often have the audience start singing the "Whoa-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh" part.
• Bar Brawl: "Friday Fighting" is a critique on bar and street fights.
  On the corner with the reprobates
  That you will call your mates for all the years you'll waste
  This toxic masculinity
  It's all that I can see in floods of thirsty streets
• Big Brother Is Watching: "Play God" is about an "Orwellian overlord who controls society and generates mistreatment of the working class."
  No matter who you are or where you've been
  He is watching from the screen
  👁 This example contains a YMMV entry. It should be moved to the YMMV tab.
  Keeps a keen eye on the in-between
  From the people to the Queen
• Bittersweet 17: The Title Track of "Seventeen Going Under" is about Sam's life when he was 17, although it focuses more on the bitter than sweet.
• Break-Up Song:
  • "Get You Down" is about how Sam's self-loathing and insecurities affected his relationships with his ex-girlfriends.
  • "Pretending That You're Dead" is about Sam being in a bad mood following a breakup and how she hooked up with one of his friends, with him pretending that she is dead in an attempt to get over it, but admitting that he isn't alright at the end of the song.
• B-Side:
  • "Seventeen Going Under" includes "Howdon Aldi Death Queue".
  • "Get You Down" includes "The Kitchen".
  • "People Watching" was initially bundled with "Me and the Dog", though it wasn't available on streaming services until the release of "Wild Long Lie".
  • The seven inch single of "People Watching" includes "Tyrants".
• Call-Back: "Wild Long Lie" has a line in the chorus on going "back to the kitchen", a reference to one of Seventeen Going Under's bonus tracks "The Kitchen" (with the kitchen representing a wild house party). The song also mentions a talkative friend named Jimmy.
• Christmas Songs: "Winter Song" is about homeless people on the streets during Christmas with a message about being more empathetic to those less fortunate than you.
• Cover Version: He has covered "Waiting For Love", "Sad but True" and "Back To Black".
• Deliberately Monochrome: The covers of Seventeen Going Under and People Watching.
• Drugs Are Bad:
  • "Spice", which is about someone who recently left school becoming addicted to the titular drug, resulting in him beating up his dad and getting sent to jail.
  • "Wild Long Lie" takes place from the perspective of someone who often sniffs lines of cocaine and how it's taking its toll on him.
  Back to the bathroom
  I'll line you up
  For another wild, long lie
  Back to the kitchen
  Sprawled on the floor
• Epic Rocking: "Wild Long Lie" is 6 minutes long and currently his longest song.
• Fair-Weather Friend: In "Wild Grey Ocean" Sam describes his friends as "good-time friends" since they aren't there when he is in trouble, such as when his brother nearly got killed.
  I seldom see our old gang 'round town
  I call them "good-time friends"
  'Cause they're never there when shit goes down
  Like when my brother got jumped and they hurt him real bad
  I thought I'd lost him, he is all I have
• Generational Trauma: In "The Dying Light", he mentions that he's scared to have kids, mainly due to not wanting them to inherit his depression.
• Genre Roulette: Somewhat downplayed in that he generally has a rock theme in his songs, but some songs tend to vary in sub-genres, including Math Rock ("Play God"), R&B ("Saturday"), Power Pop ("That Sound") and Punk Rock ("Howdon Aldi Death Queue").
• Grief Song: The Title Track of People Watching is one for Annie Orwin, who Sam knew and was like a surrogate mother to him who died in November 2023, with him being by her side in her last moments.
  The poor nurse was around the clock
  And the beauty of youth had left my breaking heart
  But it wasn't hard when you love someone
  Oh, I stayed all night till you left this life 'cause that's just love
• Heartland Rock: One of the few British examples, being influenced by Bruce Springsteen and has similar themes of growing up in a working class environment.
• Last Note Nightmare: The rather chill "All Is On My Side" ends with a rather unpleasent-sounding guitar drone.
• Let's Duet:
  • The acoustic version of "Seventeen Going Under" with Holly Humberstone.
  • The single version of "Rein Me In" is a duet with Olivia Dean.
• Live Album: Released a live concert from Finsbury Park in 2022.
• Lyrical Dissonance: His songs are usually about rather dark subjects yet often sound rollicking and upbeat.
  • "Greasy Spoon" is rather uplifting-sounding yet is about women being raped by men and being traumatised into not calling them out.
  • "Aye"'s peppy clapping beat contrasts Sam's angry lyrics about all the terrible things that have occured throughout history to today.
• Minimalistic Cover Art: The cover of "Hypersonic Missiles" is a picture of Sam with his name and album title above in the left and right corners respectively.
• Non-Appearing Title: People Watching, with the closest being in the Title Track with the phrase "People-watch" being repeated throughout the song.
• Oop North: Comes from North Shields (near Newcastle), has a very notable Georgie accent when singing and writes from the perspective of growing up in a working-class Northern neighbourhood.
• Protest Song: A fair amount of his songs are these, an example being "Saturday", which is about calling out the poor treatment of the working class.
• Real Men Don't Cry: Deconstructed in "Spit of You", where Sam felt spun out seeing his father shed tears at his grandmother's funeral.
  You kissed her forehead
  And it ran like a tap
  No more than four stone soaked wet through
  And I'd never seen you like that
  Spun me out
• Sad Clown: In "Seventeen Going Under", he says he "armed [him]self with a grin, because [he] was always the fucking joker", then adds that despite this, the way others saw him was "canny chatter, but he looks sad".
• Shout-Out: "Will We Talk?" mentions Blue Monday "blarin' loudly on the speakers".
• Signature Instrument: Mainly plays, fittingly enough, Fender guitars.
• The Something Song: "Winter Song".
• Special Guest:
  • Holly Humberstone joins him in the acoustic version of "Seventeen Going Under".
  • Olivia Dean in the duet version of "Rein Me In".
  • Elton John in "Talk to You".
• Stepford Smiler:
  • Mentioned in "You're Not The Only One".
  Your composure is so brittle, and you hold yourself so well
  Inside, you cling to pieces of a broken carousel
  • Also mentioned in "Seventeen Going Under".
  See I spent my teens enraged
  Spiralin' in silence
  And I armed myself with a grin
  'Cause I was always the fuckin' joker
• Strong Family Resemblance: Sam sings about how his dad looks almost exactly like him in "Spit of You". He also describes himself as "a mirrored picture of my old man" in "Seventeen Going Under".
  'Cause one day that'll be your forehead I'm kissing
  And I'll still look exactly like you
• Take That!:
  • He is not very fond of celebrities who are only famous for looking good and nothing else such as the Kardashians, as shown in "Mantra" and "Poundshop Kardashians". He also mentions "An orange faced baby at the wheel of the ship" in the latter.
  • A poster for a Finsbury Park concert in 2022 shows a cartoonish drawing of him and his friends eating a large slice of ham while a pig with Boris Johnson's head can be seen on a spitroast in the background.
• This Is a Song: In "People Watching".
  Back in the Gasworks, screamin' the song
• Unplugged Version: Has done an acoustic version of "Seventeen Going Under", with Holly Humberstone joining him.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: Sam mentions doing this in "Poundshop Kardashians" in response to the "beautiful people devoid of emotion".
  As I puke my guts up all over the decking
  'Cause the square reeks of plastic action man
  And Poundshop Kardashians
• Working Class Anthem: "Saturday", which is about Sam complaining about the poor treatment of the working class and how Saturday is the only day they get some sort of comfort.
  No power, working zero hour, making some cunt rich
  Who will never understand what it's like down here
• You Are Number Six: A dehumanising example is used in "Seventeen Going Under" to highlight his mother's financial troubles and how the Department for Work and Pensions didn't seem to care about her.
  I see my mother
  The DWP see a number

I catch myself in the mirror
See a pathetic little boy
Who's come to get you down