I have an undying love for Eurovision, but as a British Eurovision fan, the past few decades have been tough, but 2022’s UK entry, Sam Ryder has changed all of that for me.
Eurovision 2022’s grand final will be held in Turin this Saturday, May 14th, and you’d better not miss it!
The event tends to bring in 200 million viewers and above every year and this year will probably be a record-breaking year for the song contest.
Eurovision holds a very special place in my heart and I’m sure it does for many others also.
I remember watching it as a kid. I used to watch it on my own because my parents saw the whole thing as a joke, and you know what, it was a bit of a joke during the 90s and 2000s.
There were always a few wacky entries and the UK never took the show very seriously, apart from a few years where they entered the 2000s boy band, Blue and world-famous composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Sam Ryder’s SPACE MAN has a shot of doing well at 2022’s Eurovision
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In 2021, the UK entry ended up with a terrible “nul points”, also known as “zero points”.
This wasn’t the first time that the United Kingdom had ended up with no points in the competition.
However, what I will say is the song we entered last year didn’t deserve zero points.
That said, it was a pretty average song and certainly didn’t deserve to come anywhere near the top of the table.
So, it’s been a pretty tough journey being a British Eurovision fan over the years.
I would still watch the show every year because I loved seeing all the strange and interesting acts from all over Europe.
And yes, I loved watching some of the bonkers acts that we’d get every year.
That’s part of the show’s allure – it’s madness and you can never really predict what insane acts some countries might put in.
You might also find acts you genuinely fall in love with.
For instance, last year’s Icelandic entry, Daði & Gagnamagnið, was genuinely brilliant and I ended up going to see their frontman, Daði Freyr, live in concert this year.
Why has the UK not taken Eurovision seriously up to now?
Credit: EBU
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But, that’s enough waffle. Back to the story at hand, and that is Sam Ryder and his genuinely good entry into 2022’s Eurovision Song Contest.
The song is called SPACE MAN, and it’s one of the catchiest and strongest songs the UK has entered into the competition in decades.
You might know Ryder as that guy with incredible long blond hair and a beard who sings beautiful covers on TikTok.
Well, he’s also written a few very good songs of his own, and his record label, Parlophone thought he’d be a good shout for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Normally, musicians from the United Kingdom want to stay well away from Eurovision and for good reason.
The show has become far too political over the years and it has become especially bad for the UK after Brexit.
It’s kind of odd that we’re still in the competition, but then again, Australia is now part of it, and up until their illegal invasion of Ukraine, Russia also played a big part in Eurovision.
There are other non-European countries that had entered over the years such as Israel and Turkey.
Is Eurovision 2022 going to be as political as ever?
Credit: EBU / CORINNE CUMMING
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The political aspect of Eurovision has become a pretty big issue for the song contest over the years.
It’s led to some pretty terrible acts ending up with far more points than they deserved.
And, it’s also ended up with some decent acts with no points at all, all because of politics.
There is a place for politics at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Banning Russia from the competition was the right thing to do.
Also, we’re going to get to see the Ukrainian entry this year and it’s one of the favourites to win the competition!
That said, if they do win, it might result in some issues with hosting the event since Ukraine is in the middle of a war with Russia.
However, that shouldn’t stop you from voting for the act if you really like it, and I have a feeling that many people will like the Ukrainian entry this year.
As for Sam Ryder and his chances with SPACE MAN at this year’s Eurovision, I think they are good.
But, there is an issue, which is a political problem at the event.
The vote is split into two parts: the jury’s vote and the public vote.
The jury vote tends to be very political and I can easily see many people on that “jury of industry professionals” not voting for Ryder’s don’t simply because they don’t like the UK and Brexit.
Jury members from each country tend to also vote for their neighbouring country’s act which has been a problem for years.
The public vote tends to be much more open and not as biased as the jury vote.
That’s how Manneskin ended up winning last year because they were not the jury’s choice.
It’s going to be very interesting to see what ends up happening at this year’s Eurovision and whether Sam Ryder gets more than “nul points”.
I really hope he ends up at least in the top ten! I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a podium finish for the man from Essex!
What do you make of this feature?
Are you looking forward to watching Sam Ryder sing his heart out at 2022’s Eurovision Song Contest this weekend?
Let me know you thoughts in the comments below.
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