This year, the identity of the UK representative in Eurovision 2023 has been one of the great attractions on social media, where every week the “press” claimed to have the name of a confirmed artist, who all seemed to have in common that the representative of the co-host would be a woman.
The doubts were dissolved on the BBC Breakfast show where it was confirmed that Mae Muller was chosen to represent the United Kingdom in Eurovision 2023, where she will have to try to surpass the second place achieved last year by Sam Ryder. Both come from the TikTok world where they have hundreds of followers.
Learn more about Mae Muller
Her name is Holly Mae Muller and she was born on August 26, 1997 in Kentish Town, London. She is an English singer-songwriter who has been active since 2018, and achieved recognition in the British music market in 2019 with the release of the single “Better Days” with the Swedish collective Neiked and American rapper Polo G.
Mae was born listening to her mother’s favorite singer-songwriters, from whom she received many influences in her musical career such as The Dixen Chicks, Gwen Stefani, and Lilly Alen, whose debut album “Alright, Still” was a great inspiration for her.
From the age of eight, she began writing her own music and as a good creative, she began studying at the Belsize Park College of Fine Arts. As a teenager, she worked at the American Apparel chain of stores, but left to work at a pub called Kentish Town, as she was clear that music was her future and what she was going to fight for. With the help of a friend, who helped her with production, she uploaded some songs to SoundCloud in 2017, a German music platform, and quickly began receiving very good reviews. However, her stroke of luck came on the social network Instagram, where a video of her singing allowed her to be discovered and signed by a manager.
She began to release different singles, the first of which was “Worried Her”, followed by “After Hours”, which was released in February 2018 and received very good reviews from the prestigious British music magazine DIY. In September 2018, she released the song “Frankly” and was considered by many music media as someone to keep an eye on in the future.
In April 2019, she released her first studio album “Chapter 1”, with which she was the opening act for the famous group Little Mix on their LM5: The Tour. After the tour, she released the single “Therapist” and obtained a small national tour in the UK with five dates. In September 2020, she released another EP, titled “No One Else, Not Even You”, and not only did the British media begin to take note of her releases, but part of Europe began to follow her. In this EP, the song “So Annoying” allowed her to work on the music video with Sophie Muller, a well-known music video director and winner of Grammy Awards.
In 2021, she released a song with Billen Ted and also joined the Swedish collective Neiked and American rapper Polo G, resulting in the single “Better Days”, which became her first big hit. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart directly at number 57 in October, but would reach number 23. In addition, it obtained a top 10 in the US Billboard list and reached number 32 in the UK singles chart, even performing on the well-known Jimmy Fallon show. To top it off, with “Better Days” she achieved the silver record from the British music industry (BPI), platinum record from the Australian music industry (ARIA), another platinum record from the recording industry of America (RIAA), and a gold record from the music industry of New Zealand (RMNNZ).
In October 2022, she released her new album “I Just Came to Dance”, which was a great commercial success in terms of listens. In 2023, she released a collaboration single with Sigala, Caity Baser, and Stefflon Don called “Feels So Good”, followed by her Eurovision song “I Wrote a Song”. On the music platform Spotify, she has over six million monthly listeners, and her social media numbers are even more impressive. On TikTok, she has 547k followers and more than 4.5 million likes, while on Instagram she has 126k followers, including Sam Ryder, the UK representative from last year. But her Eurovision curiosities don’t end there, as she also appeared in the music video for “Grace Kelly”, a song by Mika, the host of Eurovision 2023.
«I wrote a song» her song for Liverpool
She co-wrote her entry for Eurovision, “I wrote a song,” with Brit-nominated composer Lewis Thompson and Karen Poole, who has written for artists such as Kylie Minogue, Lily Allen, and David Guetta, as well as being a founding member of Alisha’s Attic.
The song speaks about a somewhat tumultuous breakup, where she wanted to get revenge for the lies and betrayal, but instead “writes a song” where she tells about all the damage that was done to her and how she’s overcoming it.
Lyrics of «I Wrote a song»
Original lyrics
When you said you were leavin’
To work on your mental health
You didn’t mention the cheating
You kept that one to yourself.
I got so mad was gonna
Cuss you out, outside your house
For everyone to see.
Wanted to trash your Benz
Tell all your friends
How cruel you were to me.
Instead I wrote a song
Bout how you did me wrong
I could have cried at home
And spent the night alone.
Instead I wrote a song
I feel much better now
Me and my girls are out
And we all sing along.
Instead I wrote a song.
Instead I wrote a song.
I kept my cool and composure
My mother would be so proud
I was ready for a sentence baby
Instead I wrote it all down.
Oh I was gonna
Cuss you out, outside your house
For everyone to see.
Wanted to trash your Benz
Tell all your friends
How cruel you were to me.
Instead I wrote a song
Bout how you did me wrong
I could have cried at home
And spent the night alone.
Instead I wrote a song
I feel much better now
Me and my girls are out
And we all sing along.
Instead I wrote a song.
Instead I wrote a song.
Let’s celebrate
Dance it away
I thought my heart would break…
Instead I wrote a song
Bout how you did me wrong
I could have cried at home
And spent the night alone.
Instead I wrote a song
I feel much better now
Me and my girls are out
And we all sing along.
Instead I wrote a song.
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
The United Kingdom is one of the countries with the most participations in the Eurovision Song Contest after debuting in 1957. They have won Eurovision five times (1967, 1969, 1976, 1981, and 1997).
In 2019, the United Kingdom became the country with the longest uninterrupted participation in the contest, since 1959. They debuted in 1957 and were only absent in the inaugural edition and in 1958.
In recent years, the United Kingdom has not had its best run in the contest, achieving very poor results with their different entries. In 2021, they were represented by James Newman after being chosen for 2020 and the contest being cancelled due to COVID-19. The artist finished in last place with ‘Embers’ with a total of 0 points from both the jury and the public vote, the first time this has happened since the change in the voting system in 2016.
But last year seems to be a new dawn, they internally selected Sam Ryder, a well-known tiktokker with thousands of views behind him, and his song “Space Man” achieved a fantastic second place, remember that this is the country that has achieved the most second places in the history of the contest. Additionally, Sam has continued to perform concerts throughout the United Kingdom, his song is one of the biggest hits of the year in the UK and even received a nomination for the prestigious Brits Award for the singer.