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sam fender has been crowned the winner of 2025 Mercury Prize For their third studio album, people watching,
The singer-songwriter recently won a prestigious music award Just a stone’s throw from where he was brought up in North ShieldsBecause the ceremony took place for the first time at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena.
They beat shortlisted artists including rock band Fontaines DC and Irish pop star Wolf Alice. CMATand Britpop icons Pulp.
Announcing the win, judging panel member and Radio 1 presenter Sian Ellery said she and her fellow judges loved it. people watching “Character and Ambition”.
He said, “After very rigorous discussion we decided to choose an album that would be distinctive for its cohesiveness, character and ambition.” “It felt like a classic album that will take pride of place in record collections for years to come.”
Accepting the trophy, Fender led the live audience in a chant of “Toon, Toon” before praising CMAT and Fontaines DC, then brought out his guitar for a reprise of the title track “People Watching”.
Fender, whose career has skyrocketed since his successful With his 2019 debut hypersonic missilesrecently completed a massive run of shows which included three nights at the 52,000 capacity St James’ Park in Newcastle. She was previously nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2022 for her second album, Going down since seventeen.
Upon its release in February, people watching It topped the chart and sold 107,000 copies in its first week, the biggest chart debut for a British artist since Harry Styles’ album. harry’s house Came out in 2022.
Fender was the last artist to perform during the ceremony, receiving a deafening roar from the live audience when he took the stage to perform “People Watching”.
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Host Lauren Laverne said, “I think, judging by that reaction, he might just be playing to the home audience.”
Lot’s of Selected artists of this year Appearing on the red carpet in the evening praised the decision to move the ceremony away from its usual location in London.
Folk musician Martin Carthy, who at 84 is the oldest nominee ever for the award, told the BBC that hosting it up north was a “master stroke” and that despite being a “bloated Southerner”, he was honored to be there.
Echoing the sentiment, fellow nominee Emma Jean Thackray suggested that people are “starting to realize that the music industry isn’t just about London”.
She added: “It’s wonderful to see different places getting some shine and I’m particularly pleased that this year’s Mercury Prize is up north, being a Northern girl.”
Was shortlisted this year too Scottish singer-songwriter Jacob AloneRecognized for their debut album in limerencewhich explores themes of sexuality, romantic passion and loneliness in the gay community.
Instead of the usual “token jazz albums”, this year’s shortlist featured two jazz records. First place went to Welsh pianist Joe Webb for his technically impressive, humorous album hamstrings and stormWhile the second nod went to musical polymath Thackeray, who has a record of 2025 strange man Combines jazz with rock, funk and hip-hop influences.
CMAT was widely seen as the favorite to win; However, the Mercury Prize judges are seen as notoriously No Selecting popular favourites.
This was CMAT’s second Mercury Prize nomination – they were also selected for their second album, crazy, for meWhich was released in 2023.
His 2025 Shortlisted Albums euro-country, Meanwhile, the single topped the charts in her native Ireland and also peaked at number 2 in the UK.
Appearing on the red carpet earlier that evening, 29-year-old musician Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson told the PA news agency that Ireland’s current surge of musical success has come from “a generation of traumatized people” and is the result of “harvesting a lot of bad fruit”.
“I wish I could point it to something else, but it’s just the fact that everything is unfolding so fast, and there aren’t a lot of artists from a very small, very densely populated country who are making a lot of music that is quite significant rather than trivial,” she said.
“I think everyone’s been a little bit honest and lost their minds a little bit because we all went through something about 20 years ago, people in my age group, and now we’re really dealing with the consequences and consequences of it.”
CMAT references the Irish economic recession of 2008 euro-countryIncluding the title track, where she sings: “All the big boys / All the Berties / All the envelopes, yes, they hurt me / I was 12 years old when the slaves started killing themselves around me.”
The shortlist was compiled by an independent judging panel of music industry professionals, including Ellery, jazz musician Jamie Cullum, and others. many timeschief pop and rock critic Will Hodgkinson and BBC Radio 6 presenter Jamz Supernova.
last year’s award Band formed by leads went to english teacher For their first album, It could be Texas.