The UK's Eurovision Song Contest hopeful Sam Battle had no idea that one of his biggest challenges in the whole competition would be a dirty nappy. But it was.
The electronic music artist and experimental singer-songwriter – who performs under the stage name Look Mum No Computer – was announced as the UK's 2026 Eurovision entrant in February. At the time the 37-year-old said being selected was 'completely bonkers', but as a life-long fan of the contest, he was honoured to 'join the legacy and fly the flag for the UK'.
However, while he's been preparing to perform to around 166 million people worldwide, he's also been balancing another huge milestone: becoming a dad for the first time. Just a few weeks ago Sam and his wife Melanie welcomed their son Max – whose arrival came just as intense Eurovision rehearsals were kicking in.
Speaking to Metro ahead of performing his song Eins, Zwei, Drei for the first time at the Second Semi-Final tonight, Sam admitted: 'Having a child is amazing – however it's been a challenge!'
'I have missed a few alarm clocks since he was born,' he explained, before sharing an awkward anecdote about how changing a nappy early one morning threw his schedule into disarray. 'I had a rehearsal in London, and I was changing a nappy, and my alarm went off at 6am and I turned it off and said to myself I'd just lay down for another five minutes… I woke up four hours later.'
Despite rocking up to the rehearsal hours later than planned, Sam – who lives about an hour and a half outside of London in Ramsgate in Kent – was eternally grateful that 'everybody understood'.
'Everybody knew this was a situation going into it – that there was going to be two big things in my life at the same time – but they all decided I was going to be able to do it. And it's paid off – I surprised myself with being able to do it,' he added.
From YouTube to Eurovision
Beginning his career in 2014 as the frontman of the indie rock band Zibra, two years later Sam launched his YouTube channel – where he's now amassed over 85 million views and 1.4 million combined followers over his various social accounts. Before being selected for Eurovision, he was best known for creating unusual and eccentric musical devices made from vintage technology – including a Furby organ, a synthesizer fused with a classic Raleigh Chopper bicycle, and a Game Boy Triple Oscillator synthesizer.
As a child he would dismantle toys and household appliances to explore their inner workings, which he said could have easily driven his parents mad – but they instead supported his experiments. 'My parents were very open and supportive of me doing things – they were happy with me pulling things apart,' he recalled. 'They were encouraging me to do things I was interested in, but I think it annoyed them a few times. I remember they once got me some see-through toys, so I stopped taking them apart,' he laughed.
However, when it came to his focus on academics, Sam initially failed all his sixth form courses before realising it was time to 'buckle down', re-taking them all to secure a place to study chemistry in university. But after taking his first few classes, he 'instantly knew it was not what I wanted to do', then changing to music even though he considered it 'might not prove fruitful with employment opportunities'. Not willing to let that deter him though, as he put it: 'I knew if I kept on trying my hardest it might work, so I gave it a go.'
He then took another jump to pursue music – leaving halfway through his degree to join the band Dive Bella Dive, who signed a record deal but then faced a stalled album release and postponed gigs. Looking back at that time, Sam said it was 'exceptionally full on and a real crash course in how the music industry works'. 'There was a lot of pressure, and I grew up very quickly,' he added.
Although that band's career take off didn't go as planned, Sam used that time to learn electronics and began building the devices he currently performs with. After three years in the indie-rock band ZIBRA – which once supported fellow UK Eurovision act Olly Alexander's band Years and Years and also performed at Glastonbury – Sam turned his full focus onto Look Mum No Computer a decade ago.
Apart from releasing music, in that time Sam's also co-produced several compositions, including for the film adaptation of A Street Cat Named Bob and the Netflix series Safe, presented a travel docu-series and co-developed a video game.
UK's Eurovision Chances
Although electronic acts are nothing new in Eurovision, Sam initially believed the BBC was 'taking a risk' when asking him to represent the UK. When he was announced as this year's act some called it a 'curveball', but the response was overwhelmingly positive.
'This song feels very Eurovision in a way that the last 20+ years of UK Eurovision entries have not,' one fan posted on social media, while another declared this was 'the first time I've wanted the UK to win in years!'. Reflecting on the public response to his selection, Sam said he was 'never going to please everybody, but I feel everybody was largely surprised' – including himself. 'It's just completely bonkers. Even back in September it wasn't even on my bingo card for my life – it's mad. It's crazy,' he laughed.
It's now been 29 years since the UK last won the contest. Despite Sam Ryder's second place success in 2022, last year Remember Monday received zero points from the public vote, suffering the same fate as Olly a year earlier. Despite the UK infamously struggling to pick up points in recent years, Sam said he was going in with an 'open mind'.
'Who knows what is going to happen. We might be stuck with the stigma, but we might also break out of it. There's all to play for…' he teased. He also said there was 'potential' to pick up points from Germany this year – with his song having more German in it than the country's act this year (Sarah Engel's pop song Fire is sung entirely in English). 'As long as we are on time on the stage, I'm sure it might please them a little bit,' Sam joked.
The 2026 Eurovision Song Contest starts tonight, with the First semi-final airing from 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer. The second semi-final will be held on Thursday night, with the Grand Final taking place on Saturday night.
