Elton John is featured on a new song by award-winning British singer/songwriter Sam Fender called “Talk to Me.” The pop-rock legend contributes piano to the track, which was released today (October 17) as a digital single. “Talk to Me” also will be included on an upcoming deluxe, expanded version of Fender’s 2025 album People Watching, which will be released on December 5.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Talk to Me” is a melodic, mid-tempo pop-rock tune sung from the perspective of a guy who’s cheated on his lover and is desperate to patch things up with her.
The song arrives a day after Fender was honored with the prestigious Mercury Prize for People Watching. The annual award recognizes the best album released by an artist from the U.K. or Ireland.
Elton has been a longtime fan of Fender who handpicked the singer/songwriter to perform at his 2020 Academy Awards Viewing Party, which raises money for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. John joined Fender at the event to duet on a version of Sam’s tune “Will We Talk?”
Fender Appearing on a New Episode of Elton’s Rocket Hour Podcast
Meanwhile, Fender will be featured on a new episode of the Elton John’s Rocket Hour podcast on Apple Music 1, premiering Saturday, October 18, at 12 p.m. ET. In the FaceTime conversation, recorded in September while Sam was touring the U.S., the two artists discussed their new collaboration.
Fender explained how the collaboration came about.
“So when we started this one … I had that piano part, which is the main riff,” Sam noted. “And I was like, ‘Oh, I would love to get somebody better at piano than me.’ I was like, ‘I wonder who I know. Who can I call?’”
Elton then said, “It was so much fun to come and play on one of your songs, because we’ve been friends for a long, long time.”
Fender also talked about deciding to put out an expanded version of People Watching, which was first released in February.
“So it was like this album, obviously, it was a baptism of fire,” Sam noted. “It took three years to make the whole thing, and I had so many songs and I basically had a whole other album’s worth of stuff by the time we’d finished People Watching. And to be honest with you, ‘Talk to You’ and a couple of the [other] songs off this Deluxe [version] … I would’ve preferred to have probably had on the standard.
He added that the deluxe version of People Watching will feature “a whole eight songs extra … It’s basically a whole other album.”
People Watching is Fender’s third studio album. All three of his albums have topped the U.K. chart.
You can pre-order the deluxe edition of People Watching now.
(Courtesy of Apple Music)
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.