Sam Ryder says he is in shock as a song he never expected people to hear has become a top contender for this year's Christmas number one.
On Sunday it was revealed that You're Christmas To Me had shot up from number 12 to number two and was just 800 copies behind Wham!'s 80s classic Last Christmas, which topped the UK singles charts last Friday.
Speaking to The Standard in association with Deliveroo's latest partnership with the Trussell Trust, the 34-year-old Essex native said: "It's madness! I love Christmas songs and have always wanted to put one out, but never really had the opportunity."
That dream came true when he was approached to do one for an Amazon Prime movie. The song was released exclusively through Amazon Music so it won't be found on the likes of Spotify or Apple, leading him to wonder who would actually hear it.
"They approached me in the summer in August, so not exactly like the most festive time of year, but of course I jumped at the opportunity," he recalled.
"But then, I was also thinking that you never know who is going to hear that, only really the audience watching the film, so you kind of make it with no pressure at all...it’s just for love and just for fun
"Now, here we are, fast forward to December, and we’re in the battle for Christmas number one which is really strange because none of us expected it.
"There have been a lot of new Christmas songs this year and it seems to be our one that you can only hear it on Amazon, so god knows how people are even [finding it], I’m just speechless!"
This year has been full of "blessings", Ryder said.
Still on a high after finishing in second place at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest and securing the UK its highest score in decades, the former TikTok star's debut album went to number one in January.
He's about to enter the new year with single Lost & Found up for an Emmy Award and a "cool collaboration with a South Korean artist" is on the horizon, along with work on his second album.
It's unsurprising that he's looking forward to a hard-earned break.
"I’m excited to put my microphone and guitar down for like, two weeks because it has been such a hectic year," he said.
"It has been so cool and so full of blessings, but I’ve been a bad family member, I haven’t seen my family as much as I’d like to. I think that’s probably true to say for a lot of us, you know? Life’s busy for so many of us now and you don’t get to check in as much as you’d like with family.
"I’m excited to really be present, get together and put Blackadder and The Royal Family on and just chill and enjoy each other’s company."
Despite his hectic schedule, Ryder found the time to surprise shoppers in Edinburgh on Wednesday with a pop-up performance to reward the city for being the most charitable with its donations to the Trussell Trust via Deliveroo’s round-up feature.
Since 2022, the food delivery app has helped the anti-poverty charity to provide nearly three million meals.
The generous people of Edinburgh have raised enough money to provide over 43,000 meals to food banks in the Trussell Trust network this year."I hope they weren’t expecting someone better!" he says humbly, adding jokingly: "Someone shouting out ‘I wish it was Take That!’"
"We’ve done quite a lot of busking over the last year and it’s always quite a buzz because you never know if people are gonna stop or if people are gonna give a damn, so it’s always quite a humbling potentially experience, but always such good fun.
"To do it for something as significant and amazing as the Trussel Trust is amazing, so big up Deliveroo for making it happen."
