Mae Muller is ready to slay the Eurovision stage with her break-up banger I Wrote A Song.
After an “extensive” search for the successor to Sam Ryder, Muller was revealed as the UK’s entry for the annual extravaganza earlier this month.
The British singer-songwriter, from London, is best known for featuring on Neiked’s 2021 nu-disco/funk anthem Better Days, which reached the top 40 in both the UK and U.S. and has been streamed over a billion times.
Her other credits include I Just Came to Dance, American Psycho (with Marshmello and Tripple Red) and Feels This Good (with Sigala, Caity Baser and Stefflon Don).
Mae tells GAY TIMES that she recorded I Wrote A Song, which recently made its debut on the charts at number 30, “a few days” before Eurovision conversations came to fruition.
“I just wanted to write a song that felt a bit like, ‘I’m not feeling great, I don’t wanna feel rubbish anymore and I wanna feel hot.’ It’s getting over those negative emotions and discovering how you can empower yourself,” she says.
“This song is about heartbreak, but it can really be about anything, whatever you’re going through. How can you navigate those emotions and come out the other side? My way of doing that is through writing, so that’s how I penned it.”
Mae jokes that breakup anthems have been her “brand for about five years now”: “When someone’s done you dirty and you write a song about it, and then you meet the people who have been listening to it, it makes you want to do it more.
“So whenever I write about something I’m going through, in the back of my mind I’m going, ‘Maybe this will help someone else too.’ And when you perform it it’s just one big, ‘We’re all bad bitches!'”
It was important for Mae to create an infectious anthem that “everyone could bop and dance to” – particularly for the most passionate supporters of Eurovision: the LGBT’s.
“I know that within the gay community, you’re either gonna love it or hate it. So, I’m very happy that it’s being loved right now,” says Mae, who wrote the track with Lewis Thompson and Karen Poole.
“The support that has been shown has been so nice and I’ve always wanted my music and shows and everything I create to be a safe space. The fact that it’s resonating in that way makes me feel really good.
“I’ve been going down a rabbit hole watching YouTube reactions and it’s so funny because, before people listen to it, they’re like, ‘Ugh, what’s it gonna be?’ They hear it and they’re like, ‘Oh okay, maybe we have a bop?'”
With his track Space Man, Ryder finished first in the jury vote and came second overall in last year’s Eurovision – becoming the highest-charting entry for the UK since Gina G’s pop classic Ooh Ahh… Just a Little Bit in 1996.
Ryder has since been credited for helping transform the UK’s shoddy luck, as well as reinvigorating the British public’s interest in the contest, which Mae describes as a “blessing”.
“Him doing so well really changed the way the UK is seen in regards to Eurovision and that can only ever be a great thing,” she explains. “We are home to some of the best musical talent on the planet so I’m glad that the tides are changing with Eurovision. There’s no reason for the nil points!”
Although Mae notes that creating music is “not all about positions and statistics and data”, she’s celebrating its success on the charts because it “equals people enjoying and listening to it”.
“It’s my highest-charting song in the UK. It’s my first top 40 solo. Better Days was with NEIKED and Polo G who are amazing, and that did what it did and was a crazy experience, but being on my own without any feature feels nice, to see it doing its thing. Even the fact that it debuted at 30 is crazy.”
While she can’t reveal too much about her performance – “I’m under oath right now from the Eurovision gods!” – she teases: “It’s gonna be a party and high-energy and powerful and fun. As an artist, when you’re performing, if you’re having a good time then everyone is having a good time with you.”
I Wrote A Song will be included on Mae’s upcoming debut album, which has been “ready to go” for a “long time”.
“My focus is Eurovision right now, it’s tunnel vision, but after the 13th of May there’s going to be an album and tour,” she reveals. “So whoever wants to stick with me, let’s go and have a party!”
The 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Liverpool in May.
The UK are hosting on behalf of Ukraine following the country’s vistory in 2022 with Kalush Orchestra’s Stefania.
Semi-finals will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on 9 and 11 May at 1pm, while the grand final will air on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds on 13 May from 8pm.
Watch the music video for I Wrote A Song here or below.
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