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Doctor Who and Marvel star debuts baby bump in glamorous red carpet appearance.
Virgin Radio
19 May 2023, 06:52
Sam Ryder joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch today to play live from the top of the tower, and to talk about Eurovision and his new single!
The singer-songwriter performed his latest single Mountain live at the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool on Saturday, accompanied by none other than Roger Taylor on drums.
Speaking about the performance, Sam told Chris: “It was about creating a moment in time, because last year I spent so much of the campaign leading up to Eurovision saying how it's this amazing, unifying force [that] brings people together in a world that tears us apart. So, I wanted to put my money where my mouth was, with this fantastic opportunity and the privilege, and the honour to take to that stage again. It's about bringing people from all walks of life onto that stage, the biggest stage at the biggest party on the planet."
He continued: "Now, some of those people, they had been going through challenges in life, but it was about making their challenges part of their story and identifying that, but not making that their one defining factor.
"We all have something, mountains in our life that we're going to overcome, but they don't define us, and that's what the song is about."
On whether he felt any pressure when singing at the event, Sam said: “For me, it didn't exist, because pressure’s often intangible. It's directed at you from other sources, not yourself. So, if I could switch off from those sources, there was no pressure.
“So, nerves became excitement, and it was just a joy to share that moment in time.”
Speaking about being joined by Queen legend Roger Taylor on drums, he said: “He came, played the drums, flew in from Mexico off his holiday. I want it to big up Roger. He's so lovely. He doesn't need to be doing that."
Sam’s session this morning included Put a Light on Me, from his debut album There’s Nothing But Space, Man.
Talking more about Eurovision, Sam enthused about host city Liverpool. “They took on that responsibility and they fulfilled the dreams and desires of everyone that knew that that was a big burden to undertake, and they just made it look fantastic,” he said. “They brought everyone together in the best way.”
He added: “For me, Eurovision is so special because in a world of music and artists and performers being on stage and the energy being directed from us as fans one way, not to be reciprocated all the time, because that is the case often, Eurovision is cyclical. It really is like a boomerang and everyone in that arena was cheering every single person… ‘Never heard of this artist before, dunno what they're singing about, love them to bits!’
Sam will be playing live at Pub in the Park in Marlow tomorrow, headlining the Saturday afternoon session. Talking about what else is going on this year, he explained: “We’ve got about 30 festivals this year. So it's going to be busy. We're going to visit some pals in South Korea hopefully later in the year. They've been supporting me, since the days of tick tock, in the corner of my shed singing my head off into my phone. So, high time I went to say thank you personally to those guys.”
Sam was accompanied by guitarist Lewis Nelson for his superb live set. Together they performed a cover of You've Got The Love, by The Source featuring Candi Staton, which is also known for Florence and the Machine’s cover of it from 2009.
Watch their incredible version here:
Mountain is out now. For more information, visit samryder.in.
For more great live sessions and interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.
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