Eurovision 2023: Mae Muller Announced as UK Act for Song Contest
Mae Muller will represent the United Kingdom at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
As reported by CNN, the 25-year-old will perform her track I Wrote A Song at the competition in May, hoping to follow the success of Sam Ryder last year.
“To compete in such a massive music competition is simply brilliant,” she said, describing her involvement as “a dream”.
The UK is one of the last competing countries to reveal its song for 2023.
Following the same selection process as last year, the BBC has been working with a management company to pick the act.
Muller was born in 1997 – the year the UK last won Eurovision – and has previously supported Little Mix on tour as well as working with artists like Aitch and Sigala.
“I’m a huge fan of so many of the artists that have found success at Eurovision, from ABBA to Måneskin,” Muller said.
“Sam Ryder was so amazing last year and proved the UK can be back on the left-hand side of the leaderboard.”
She said he has given her some tips for the song contest.
After years of dismal results, Ryder turned things around for the UK at the 2022 competition, placing second to Ukraine.
Tap management, which has worked with Dua Lipa and Ellie Goulding, selected the TikTok star and his song Space Man, and hopes for continued success with Muller this year.
“She has the most wonderfully warm and fun personality,” Tap management said. “We have always been fans of Mae for her voice, songs and star charisma, and when we heard I Wrote A Song, we were really taken by its impactful message – ‘songs as a form of therapy’ (a great message for the biggest song contest in the world!).”
Spiky break-up songs are Mae Muller’s trademark, and I Wrote A Song is no exception.
Over a polished club beat, she gleefully takes down a cheating ex, listing all the things she wants to do to him – make a scene outside his house, crash his car, generally make his life a misery.
Instead, she goes meta, working out her anger by writing a song about writing a song about him.
“And that’s what we call growth, ladies and gentlemen,” she said in a video introducing the song.
Described by one colleague as “a Bulgarian nightclub banger” and by my 13-year-old as “too good for Eurovision”, it’s certainly the most contemporary, credible song we’ve sent to the contest in a long time.
Mae’s sassy north London charisma conveys the depth of her contempt, and the singalong chorus is instantly memorable.
The flourishes of flamenco guitar are more Mi Chico Latino than La Isla Bonita. But still, they’re an astute acknowledgment of Europe’s influence on a British music industry that too often sees itself as superior.
As for the song’s chances, I’m in two minds. My first reaction to the song was like a cat tasting wasabi: Get this horror show away from me.
It took a couple of listens to fully embrace Mae’s campy insouciance but in Liverpool, she only gets one chance to impress the Eurovision voters.
The country will be holding its breath to see what they decide.
