If the 2019 debut album Hypersonic Missiles introduced us to an intelligent, seasoned songwriter with a penchant for euphoric, punchy guitar anthems, was the unparalleled follow-up to 2021 Seventeen Going Under to send the Newcastle artist into the stratosphere. A keen observer, in this work Fender He turns his mirror towards the streets on which he grew up and walked, as well as himself. The album is a tough but also tender account of the childhood of Fender. It is also a coming-of-age story, marrying recognisable family themes and broken friendships with surprisingly grandiose choruses.

Seventeen Going Under has already become a job that has brought Sam around the world to play in ever larger venues and on ever bigger stages, also collecting a number of awards (including BRIT, NME, Ivor Novello and a first nomination at the Mercury Prize).

After being the headliner of his first UK festivals in the summer of 2022, having burned 45,000 tickets for his most recent headlining performance in London and over 110,000 tickets for two stadium shows in his Newcastle next year, Sam Fender has almost inadvertently become one of the most celebrated and successful British musicians of a generation.