Sam Fender releases new song with Elton John, one day after winning the Mercury Prize Sam Fender

Sam Fender has released a new song with Elton John called Talk to You, the day after he won the 2025 Mercury Prize for his album People Watching.

It features a shimmering piano line laid down by John, amidst full Fender guitar-led songwriting. “I just want to talk to you / I want to talk to my best friend / I want to leave behind everything I’ve got,” Fender sings in the chorus, and said the song is about: “The end of a long relationship — about the regrets and the mistakes and the lessons that come with it. It’s that feeling of losing your best friend, and coming to terms with that. I was playing with the music and I thought, ‘What I need is a really good pianist,’ and then, ‘Hmm, I wonder who ‘I can Contact? And of course, who is better than Elton John?

John added: “Sam was writing and recording in a studio in west London, and he called me to tell me he had written a song with a piano piece that he thought would sound great when I played it. I couldn’t resist, and it was so much fun for him to play it. I really love Sam. He’s been a friend for many years, and it’s amazing to see him grow into a truly world-class artist.”

Fender ranks highly as one of the UK’s most successful singer-songwriters. His third album, People Watching, topped the album chart in the UK, just as his previous two albums had done, and two of its songs – the title track and Rein Me In, a duet with Olivia Deen – also reached the top ten. He played dates at venues in London and Newcastle over the summer.

It won the Mercury Prize at a ceremony in Newcastle on Thursday, beating rivals from the likes of Pulp, CMAT and Fontaines DC. The judges praised People Watching’s “coherence, character and ambition”, describing it as: “melodically rich and expansive, marrying rock with the realities of everyday life and the importance of community. These are thoughtful songs with broad appeal, as cinematic as they are intimate.”

Fender dedicated the award to the late actor Annie Urwin, a close friend who was the subject of the album’s title song. He received a cash prize of £25,000.