The Essex singer is the most popular British musician on TikTok with 12m followers. Wielding a big-budget stage show and even bigger song, he explains why he’s aiming for second place behind Ukraine
The UK hasn’t had a good Eurovision for a long time, but last year’s contest was woeful even by our own low standards. We finished at the bottom of the leaderboard in 2019 with 11 points, the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the pandemic, and then 2021 saw James Newman’s snappy dance-pop number Embers receive nul points in both the jury and audience votes: the first song to score zero on both counts in Eurovision history.
That makes this year’s Eurovision odds feel faintly surreal: according to bookmakers, the UK’s 2022 entry, Space Man, is second favourite to win on Saturday, just behind Ukraine. Performed by 32-year-old vocal powerhouse and TikTok sensation Sam Ryder, the song is a rollicking power ballad about cosmic loneliness that recalls classic British pop such as Elton John’s Rocket Man, Bowie’s Starman, and Queen. Co-written with Ed Sheeran collaborator Amy Wadge, it is slick, dramatic and formidably catchy, and it’s not hard to see why Ryder is our best bet in ages.
