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Ryder first gained traction within the social media platform TikTok during the 2020 lockdown, where the promising singer began to upload covers of popular songs onto the app. The singer’s page soon gained attention from famous artists who even posted reaction videos to his performances, Ryder now has over twelve million followers and is one of the most followed UK artists within the platform. The artist’s success within the app soon caught the attention of the industry and he was quickly signed to a major record label, in 2021 Ryder was added to Parlophone’s roster.

The Essex born artist hopes to score high with his track “Space Man”, co-written by Grammy-winning artist and songwriter Amy Wadge and Max Wolfgang. The track is a previous winner of Tune of the Week on the Scott Mills’ show, broadcasted via BBC Radio 1. Mills was also responsible for the announcement itself, the news of Ryder’s entry was revealed by the DJ on the Radio 1 Breakfast show with Greg James. On the show, Ryder stated, “I love Eurovision. I think it’s such a privilege to be able to do it… I don’t want to let the stigma or fear of coming at a certain place in a table stop me from doing something and being a part of something that I enjoy so much. As long as I can go to Eurovision and know in my heart of hearts I’m going to do the best job I can then everything else is out of my control.”

The singer also expressed his excitement within a statement given to Eurovision.tv, “Having been a fan of Eurovision since I was a kid l I am so honoured to have been presented with the opportunity to sing at an event alongside some of Europe’s most talented creatives, performers and songwriters. I hope to sing my head off in a way the United Kingdom can be proud of, and to showcase a song I wrote with my friends last summer makes the whole experience even more special. See you in Turin legends!”

This year marks the 66th Eurovision Song Contest and is set to be held on 14th May 2022 in Turin, Italy. In February, it was announced that fellow British artist Mika would co-host the semi-finals and Grand Final. The “Grace Kelly” singer will share the hosting responsibilities with Laura Pausini and Alessandro Catelan.

The event has a long history of successes and losses, last year the UK received zero points with “Embers” by entrant James Newman and in 2019 the country’s entry “Bigger Than Us” by representative Michael Rice also finished last. Despite the UK’s recent bad luck, UK music fans remain hopeful that Ryder will break the streak and bring home a win.

The video footage from the show’s telecast featured the Måneskin singer allegedly using drugs, the footage shows David leaning over the table with his head in a bowed position. Since the footage was released, various social media users have circulated rumours that the frontman was using cocaine. David has reputed these allegations, stating that he was picking up pieces of broken glass he found and not snorting cocaine, the frontman decided to end these rumours and speculation during the press conference after Måneskin’s victory. The band’s representatives have also announced that no illegal substances were present at the event.

The video has sparked controversy for the Italian performers as well as the Eurovision Song Contest itself with officials from the European Broadcasting Union, an organisation which provides an alliance of public service media operations, launching an investigation into the matter. The investigation also saw David himself volunteer to take a drugs test to proof his innocence.

The European Broadcasting Union have released a statement, confirming that the drug test in which David took was negative. “A drug test was also voluntarily undertaken earlier today by the lead singer of the band Måneskin which has returned a negative result seen by the EBU, No drug use took place in the green room and we consider the matter closed.“. They also added that the organisation was “alarmed that inaccurate speculation leading to fake news has overshadowed the spirit and the outcome of the event and unfairly affected the band”

The European Broadcasting Union have also backed up David’s statement that he was picking up broken glass, showed during the footage, The EBU have stated that evidence of broken glass was backstage at the event. “The band, their management, and head of delegation have informed us that no drugs were present in the green room, and explained that a glass was broken at their table and it was being cleared by the singer“

Måneskin beat out acts from all over Europe, this included UK’s entry and representative James Newman. Newman entered with famous competition with his song ‘Embers’, although the track was received with a somewhat positive attitude from the public, the song and performance earned the singer zero points, placing Newman in last place. The 35-year-old singer was set to represent the UK in the competition last year with the song, ‘My Last Breath’ but unfortunately the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

So far the UK has won five Eurovision Song Contests, the first win being in 1967 from Sandie Shaw with her song ‘Puppet on a String’. The next win was in 1969 with Lulu’s song ‘Boom Bang-a-Bang’, perhaps the most famous win came from Brotherhood of Man in 1976 with their celebrated song ‘Save Your Kisses For Me’. UK’s most recent triumph was in 1997 with the winning track ‘Love, Shine a Light’ performed by Katrina and the Waves.