The deluxe version features eight additional tracks
Sam Fender is pleased to share details of a new deluxe version of People Watching, his chart-topping, critically acclaimed third album released earlier this year. The deluxe version will be released on December 5th via Capitol Records and includes eight new tracks, released on CD and vinyl.
In addition to the four tracks that were originally featured on Fender’s limited edition Record Store Day vinyl Me and The Dog EP, the deluxe includes three new previously unheard tracks: “Talk To You” featuring Elton John, “Fortuna’s Wheel,” and “The Treadmill.” The extra recordings also feature “Rein Me In” with Olivia Dean for its first physical release.
To coincide with the deluxe announcement, an Elton John collaboration on the new track, “Talk To You,” is now available. The song finds John, Fender’s friend and long-term supporter, on piano. It was recorded during the initial People Watching studio sessions with producer Marcus Dravs in London.
“‘Talk To You’ was written during the People Watching sessions at British Grove – It’s a song about the end of a long relationship – about the regret, the mistakes and the lessons that come with it. It’s that feeling of losing your best friend and coming to terms with that,” Fender shares. “I was playing around with the riff and thought what I need is a really good pianist and then hmmm, I wonder who I can call? And of course, who better than Elton John.”
“Sam was writing and recording in a studio in West London and called to say he’d written a song with a piano riff that he thought would sound great with me playing it,” John adds. “I couldn’t resist, and it was so much fun playing it for him. I truly love Sam. He’s been a friend for many, many years and it’s incredible to see him grow into being a truly world-class artist.”
The February 2025 release of People Watching sent Fender supernova and right up into the higher echelons of recent British success stories. Selling over 100,000 copies of the record in its first week in the UK alone, the album outsold the rest of the Top 10 combined, becoming the fastest-selling album by a British solo artist since spring 2022. Its release was followed by sold-out stadium dates in the Summer, including the 80,000 London Stadium.
