Eurovision star Sam Ryder on split with record label and 'mammoth' pressure for No1 hit

'The pressure to achieve something like a top 10 hit or a number one hit is so mammoth'

Eurovision star Sam Ryder has opened up about splitting with his record label - saying he is excited, but admits he hasn't got it all figured out.

The pop singer - who came second in Eurovision 2022 with his song Spaceman - parted ways with Parlophone after topping the charts with his debut album.

He had signed with the label in 2020 after becoming viral on TikTok during lockdown.

Explaining his decision, the singer from Maldon in Essex told ITV Anglia: "The pressure to achieve something like a top 10 hit or a number one hit is so mammoth, all the artists are feeling this.

"But the control over that outcome is so miniscule, so the disparity between those two things is the cause for a hella a lot of anxiety and misery, and unhappiness within this beautiful thing that is just meant to be fun, it's meant to be music, it's meant to be sharing, it's meant to be connecting.

"So I want to take a step out of this system, have a look at it and figure out what do we really need to make this happen?"

He suggested he was looking forward to having more freedom to make decisions about his music.

But he said there was also some vulnerability: "A lot of people always want to have the sheen of 'I'm in total control. I want to make sure that strangers or people that I don't know are looking at me, thinking that I've got it all figured out'.

"I'm telling you now, if you're watching this, I ain't. I'm stoked and I'm grateful to be sharing this uncertainty with my closest friends and my team."

He said he plans to rebuild his team, who were pivotal to his successes, outside of any record labels.

He spoke to ITV News Anglia ahead of his gig at Chinnerys in Southend, and reminisced about his time performing at smaller music venues.

He said: "I've never been backstage here before, because I was always so low down the bill, that we weren't afforded the luxury of using the backstage, so this is my first time seeing it, which is really nice."

He added: "I feel like the king of the castle."

Ryder remembered how the Chinnerys used to be a "huge" venue for him.

He said: "The amount of times I've played here and you try and sell your tickets to the same poor people: like your fam, your mum, dad, your grandad, the same other band members.

"And you try to twist their arms and it really did feel like that, dragging people kicking and screaming to the gig."

He spoke of his success now: "Let me assure you, it doesn't happen overnight, it takes years and years and years."

"I went into lockdown like all of us did, unsure what on earth is going on.

"A lot of the weddings I was playing in got cancelled or postponed, so I had a lot of time on my hands and I used the singing to try and reconnect with the reason that I loved singing so much.

"It was never intended to be this big movement or to end up snowballing into this entity that it has done, but for me it was away of getting rid of overthinking and procrastination in my life, just singing into my phone screen."

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