An Ayrshire songwriter is one third of the creative brains behind Switzerland’s entry at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
Argyle Singh, originally from Ayr, co-wrote the song ‘Watergun’, performed by singer Remo Forrer, alongside fellow songwriters Ashley Hicklin and Mikołaj Trybulec.
Switzerland finished 20th in the singing competition, this year held in Liverpool on behalf of Ukraine, scoring 92 points- placing ahead of UK’s Mae Muller with ‘I Wrote A Song’, which finished second from last with 24 points.
Argyle, who now lives in Switzerland and is an artist in his own right performing under ARGYLE, wrote ‘Watergun’ two years ago at a song writing camp.
The 28-year-old, who performed at the Swiss Music Awards on Wednesday, wanted to shine a light on the psychological effects of returning from war.
Argyle said: “A lot of my mates actually went to the army and came back a lot worse. I kind of wrote it about the mental health aspects around that.
“The image I had in my head when I wrote it was two kids playing soldiers with water guns and then growing up, and one goes to the army and comes back and he’s never the same.”
The former Prestwick Academy pupil says he was asked to represent Switzerland with ‘Watergun’ but turned down the job, admitting “it’s not my thing”.
He said: “The war happened after that [writing the song in 2021] and everyone really wanted me to sing it, even last year, but Eurovision is just not the way I want to go.
“Obviously, mad respect to them because the production is insane and it’s the biggest platform in Europe.
“I was in Liverpool, they flew me over to see the show. I never actually watched Eurovision until I was there. It was mad - there’s so many names and so many songs.
“I knew the song [Watergun] was really strong. It was great, it was a good feeling.”
Argyle is now signed to Universal Music, under ARGYLE, and released his debut EP last year, which saw him tour Switzerland playing over 60 shows.
Now he’s focusing on releasing more singles and honing in on the three styles he likes to play live; intimate ballads, soulful folk and blues/ rock.
“It’s my first year professionally I suppose,” he said.
“I think after Covid I just really realised how much happier I was not going to work in a bar everyday - and it kind of lit a fire under my a*** to be honest.
“I’m in the process of recording the next two EPs.
“It’s going great. I’m living from music, which I wouldn’t be able to do at this stage in the UK yet. I’m definitely lucky.
“I definitely want to come back to the UK to play shows. I want to play tours in Holland, Germany, America, Canada- everywhere really.
“For me authenticity is the key. I just want to be myself and have a laugh when I’m there.”
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