Sam Ryder on his debut album and life after Eurovision: “Who knows what will happen next?”

Sam Ryder has shared that he is in the final stages of finishing his debut album, ‘There’s Nothing But Space, Man’. Watch our video interview with Ryder above.

Speaking to NME at Truck Festival in Oxfordshire this weekend (July 24), the Eurovision singer said it was looking like the record would be finished this month, adding that it’s been an “amazing” experience.

Asked what the record might sound like, he replied: “I’ll tell you next week when I finish it. We have a day off tomorrow, and then it’s into the studio and just singing nonstop until that album is done.

“I didn’t really know that I was making the album. Last year, I wrote about 100 songs, and not all of them are good, it’s just the nature of writing songs.”

Ryder continued: “Some of my favourites we’ve put together for an album. It’s done, you’re just curating the thing. You’ve got this collection of work and you’re putting it together now, and then making the final touches and then listening back to ones and going, ‘God, that line’s a shocker, I’ll have to change that next week’.”

The singer also spoke about the whirlwind journey he has been on since coming second at the Eurovision Song Contest in May.

“None of us knew what Eurovision would be, we went there to do something for the love of Eurovision with no expectation of where we’d come, because that would be foolish for a UK entrant to ever imagine that they could go in and have the results that myself and the team had, but it was just for fun,” he said.

“So every blessing that’s coming our way at the moment is just to be enjoyed, who knows what will happen next? I don’t tend to look too much at the schedule because I want to throw up.”

Ryder also spoke about the “amazing milestones” he has experienced in recent months – such as performing at festivals and prestigious events like the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee concert.

“Only this time last year, I was at Boardmasters and I wanted to go and see The Kooks, but I couldn’t get into their tent because it was full. And yesterday, that happened to us at Tramlines,” he said. ‘”[I was] saying, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you,’ over and over again in my head that this tent was full and I was able to experience that.”

Ryder will also embark on a 14-date UK and Ireland tour next year, kicking off at Belfast’s Ulster Hall on March 17, 2023, with dates in Glasgow, London and Cardiff, before finishing up at Brighton Dome on April 5. Tickets are available here.

‘There’s Nothing But Space Man’ will be released October 14.

Meanwhile, it was announced today that the UK will be hosting next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, with 2022’s winners Ukraine unable to do so due to the ongoing war with Russia.