Sam Ryder does not write songs for Spotify

By sam ryder in may at Eurovision Song Contest When he competed in Turin, he had his doubts, because in the previous two years, Great Britain had ended up in an embarrassing last place.

But Ryder came in at number two with his song “Space Man” and a stunning performance in a sparkly suit – the start of a dizzying career for the British singer-songwriter. Sam Ryder is now releasing his debut album There’s Nothing But Space, Man!.

“What a year, man, incredible!” The 33-year-old got excited in an interview with dpa in London. Among other things, he sang at the summer of the seventieth jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in London in front of Buckingham Palace and was at WembleyStadion with my musicians Foo Fighters and his idols Queen on the stage.

“If only one of these things happened in a year or two, you would be sitting with the family and talking about it for months. It’s really hard to sum up.”

Ryder, whose career began as a tiktok star, has long been a wanted man off the internet. This year he gave concerts in Germany, the USA and Great Britain. Time has become a scarce commodity for him. Talk to your dpa early morning via Zoom as he strolls through Primrose Hill Park in London. “I try to do a little exercise,” he says, laughing. “I do my interviews while walking, otherwise I wouldn’t have any time to exercise at all.”

The man with the amazing full beard and long hair composed most of the songs for his debut album before the ESC hype started. “I wrote the album without knowing I was writing an album.” Only success in Turin and great interest prompted Ryder to make an album out of it. “I looked in my hard drive and found about 100 songs. Then I started creating some kind of playlist. And I thought: I would like to record like this. The songs went well.” Then two more songs were added.

“There’s nothing but space, man!” It became a solid pop rock album, where Ryder’s exceptional voice, as in “Space Man,” comes from the very beginning.

For example, on the opening track “Deep Blue Doubt”, he first sings over somber piano chords before the song evolves into a rousing, soulful pop song. This is symbolic of Ryder’s positive attitude, which – as is evident in the conversations – is in no way artificial.

The drama from the somewhat subdued start to the powerful chorus is like “Space Man”, “Tiny Riot” or “More”. The poignant song about the feeling of wanting more of everything and never having enough rather than focusing on the essential things is one of the highlights of the album. “We all get distracted by big, flashy things,” Ryder says, “but they don’t have the longevity of ordinary, simple, beautiful things.”

The hippie-looking singer doesn’t want to be blindsided by the events of his career this year, just to keep his feet on the ground. “Nobody wants to be friends with someone who thinks they’re so important because they’re at WembleyStadion It happened,” he asserts. “However, there are many people who act this way. I have absolutely no interest in that.”

The song “This Time” is about Ryder’s rapid rise and the pitfalls associated with it. One line reads “Be careful when you climb a ladder, you don’t know how high it is”.

In the era of streaming, many artists consciously align their songs with Spotify and Co. When writing and start playing as soon as possible. Fortunately Ryder did not. “I think it’s partly because some of my favorite songwriters are big. Billy Joel never wrote his songs for Spotify. It just didn’t exist back then. I probably won’t have a lot of streaming hits right away because I don’t play that game, but I’m reaching out to the masses.” “.

This is next to Billy Joel and Elton John Also Queenwith whom Ryder sang “Somebody To Love” in a tribute concert to the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, and whom Freddie Mercury counts among his most important role models, you can hear the songs sung with great passion.

The album is rounded out with a bit of electropop (“Put a Light on Me”) and a little spooky soul (the single “Somebody”). “There’s Nothing But Space, Man” is the overall debut. Sam Ryder is expected to have less time for his sport soon.

Sam Ryder’s album “There’s Nothing But Space, Man” will be released December 9 on Parlophone Records.