Sam Fender has shared his new single featuring Elton John and announced a deluxe version of his Mercury Prize-winning album ‘People Watching’.
The soothing track, which you can listen to below, sees the Rocketman back the North Shields singer-songwriter on piano. The collaboration was announced earlier this week.
“‘Talk To You’ was written during the People Watching sessions at British Grove,” said Fender via a press release. “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.”
He continued: “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.”
John added: “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. 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 song is a taster from the deluxe version of ‘People Watching’, which is out on vinyl and CD on December 5 via Capitol Records. You can pre-order it here.
The record features eight extra tracks including the four tracks that appeared on his Record Store Day vinyl EP ‘Me And The Dog’.
Along with the Elton John collaboration, the album also includes two more previously unheard tracks – ‘Fortuna’s Wheel’ and ‘The Treadmill’. The extra recordings also feature the song ‘Rein Me In’ with Olivia Dean.
It comes after Fender won the Mercury Prize last night (October 16) for ‘People Watching’. The album earned the biggest opening week in the UK for a British act since Harry Styles with ‘Harry House’ in 2021.
.@samfendermusic has won the 2025 Mercury Prize – watch his performance of ‘People Watching’ at the awards show in Newcastle#SamFender #PeopleWatching #MercuryPrize pic.twitter.com/MZYQppbrjQ
— NME (@NME) October 17, 2025
During his acceptance speech at the ceremony Utilita Arena in Newcastle, Fender shouted out his hometown, saying “this region is the best region in the country,” and he did so again later in the winner’s room, adding: “It’s an absolute honour and it’s amazing it’s happened up here, for the first time outside of London. I think it’s a really important thing that’s happened right now in the music industry – I think it’s great.”
Fans on social media also reacted to Fender’s victory.
NME gave ‘People Watching’ a four-star review upon its release in February, writing, “Feeling existential, uprooted and disconnected from his old working-class life thanks to his rapid rise to fame, the British guitar hero channels it all into his gorgeous third album.”
Ahead of ‘Talk To You’ being released, Fender told Elton John that he has already started thinking about the follow-up to ‘People Watching’. “I’m going to make another album, I think,” he said. “I’ve got a load of other songs, so I want to make another record.”
