Sam Fender has has opened up about how the death of a "very close" friend and mentor inspired his latest single. The singer said People Watching is about Annie Orwin, who he described as "a surrogate mother in a lot of ways". He told BBC Radio 1's Jack Saunders the song was inspired by walks to and from the care home where Annie died last year.

Today, Sam Fender tops the Official Trending Chart with his brand new single People Watching. The first taste of Sam's third studio album of the same name, People Watching re-establishes Geordie hero Sam as one of the most accomplished British lyricists of his generation.

People Watching” and “Nostalgia Lies.” We knew that the UK rocker was planning a follow-up to his 2021 sophomore album, Seventeen Going Under, and on Wednesday he confirmed that said new album would be titled People Watching and drop in February 2025.

To introduce the new record, Fender shares its title track, which was produced in Los Angeles alongside The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel. The song was written for his late friend and mentor, Annie Orwin, and is based on Fender’s thoughts as he travelled to and from her palliative care home.

Sam Fender has shared ‘People Watching’, his first new music in two years. It’s the title track from his upcoming album, which will arrive on February 21 via Polydor Records. The English rocker co-produced the new track with the War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel.