When Ryder won second place at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, it was the culmination of a dream he’d had chased for half his life.
From the age of 16, he’d sung in dozens of bands, surviving “empty gigs and bank accounts”, by taking jobs in construction and a vegan cafe in Essex.
Everything changed in the pandemic, when he started posting covers to TikTok, with a falsetto so astonishing it grabbed the attention of Alicia Keys, Justin Bieber and, crucially, the team who select the UK’s Eurovision entry.
But in the whirlwind that followed his success in Turin, Ryder’s debut album was rushed and underwhelming.
The Evening Standard said, external the music “offers no surprises and takes no chances”. The Guardian called the album, external “so toothless it makes Ed Sheeran look like Nick Cave.”
Fans disagreed, sending Ryder to number one and selling out his tour.
Then, on the final date, the singer discovered his record label had effectively sacked the team who’d signed, developed and worked with him.
In a display of solidarity, he left too, turning down the offer of a second album to go independent.
“It feels really empowering when you make the decision and you make the announcement, because everyone’s rooting for you,” he recalls.
But reality set in a couple of months later, when he tried to start work on a new record.
“You go to the tap, and it’s not connected to the plumbing.
“You don’t have the resources that you used to have: The manpower and the battering rams to move things along. So you start to think that you’ve failed and you’re on a downward trajectory.
“And the biggest fear any human being will have when they’ve achieved a dream is losing it.”