Mae Muller says she’s not losing any sleep over her participation in Eurovision this year…despite her performance failing to set the scoreboard alight with “I Wrote a Song.”
Speaking ahead of the release of her debut album Sorry I’m Late, Mae told the BBC’s Breakfast programme that she “wallowed” for a day before moving on and insisted that despite having to grieve the whole thing, Eurovision opened doors that might not have otherwise been opened.
“I never went on there expecting to win it,” she said. “Honestly. I wanted to go on there because I loved the song and I really believed in the song. I just wanted to connect with people and for people to enjoy the song — and get joy from it. That’s what it did. No matter what the result was.”
One of the hosts compared Mae’s recovery from her result to the act of grieving and Mae broke it down.
“I’m a bit of a brusher-offer,” she said. “I’m like, ‘That happened, I’m not even going to process it.’ I’m like move, move, move. I gave myself a day and I wallowed and I cried because it was disappointing and upsetting. I gave myself a day to feel it and then I moved on.”
Mae was the second UK contestant to be selected by the TaP management team, who were hoping to build upon the success of Sam Ryder in Turin in 2022. While Sam came second, Mae unfortunately came 25th a year later and TaP announced they wouldn’t be choosing any more Eurovision acts on behalf of the BBC.
The song itself was widely praised by Eurofans for its Dua Lipa style pop synths and upbeat production but subsequent live performances proved the song a harder sell.
As for the new album Sorry I’m Late, Mae is playing on the new resilience she found in failing to score highly at the contest. She told the BBC’s Naga Munchetti that she found “strength and vulnerability” on the record and promised she was always going to keep her signature “sass.”
Sorry I’m Late is out on the 29th of September.
I really loved I Wrote a Song, and the expectations where therefor really high. It was my favorite for the win.. but then the performance was too messy and you didn’t hear Mae singing that good as in the clip
Songs about songs never do well these days
That’s a great idea for a song! 😀
I just wish the BBC would stop leaving it until the last second to announce the song.
Announce it at Christmas, push it to be a hit, promote it like mad for months so by the time it comes to the contest it’s better known.
I don’t dislike I Wrote A Song, it’s fine. The live performance was sketchy though.
I mean I Wrote A Song was screaming “failure” on all fronts. The song had nothing special, the staging looked like a Just Dance backdrop, and none of the things about the entry made it anything worth voting for. Sam Ryder is the complete and polar opposite of it, where the song DID do something unique, the staging was great (especially for Turin 2022 standards) and add the fact that Sam is a far better live performer, it just goes to show how universally inferior I Wrote A Song is compared to Space Man
„I wrote a Song“ really was a massive letdown, especially at a time when there appeared to be a bit of euphoria in UK for once and many spectacular names were rumoured. But the song alone killed all of the momentum instantly and the live performances dragged it down even further.
All the best wishes for Mae, though. Hopefully she can grow from this and one day make a triumphant return like Kaliopi did.
In normal year UK 2022 would be out of TOP 5 with winner Ukraine.
Explain. Why should it be like that?
Why Does He Owes you an Explamation ?
can you explain why he can’t be asked for an explanation?
I think she was robbed like Ronela.
Said no one Ever .
This is what Brits mean. We have to send the best song in the contest, and lead the Global response to an international war, just to finish 2nd.
Sweden can send any old thing, and somehow win.
Sweden came nowhere near being as bad as I Wrote A Song in the last two decades.
If you want to win, start by sending someone who can sing their entry live.
That’s not very nice! Mae didn’t do anything wrong. The only thing she did was try to make a good song for eurovision. How would you feel if someone wrote a comment like yours to you?
It wasn’t a winner, but should have been Top 10 alongside Israel and Norway.
The song was a real bop, ok the live performance was not the best but it certainly not deserved a bottom 5 placement, so it’s not Mae’s fault at all. It’s always the same countries humiliated for no reasons by the esc gods every year weirdly. They love to humiliate the host country too moreover if it is one of the big 4 countries. The last years only Sweden and Italy weren’t humiliated and pretty successful when they hosted….what a coincidence! Basically the big 4 pay to be humiliated by the Esc mafia. So Mae or not, a good song… Read more »
I must have missed the introduction of voting against a country…
Read again… not my point, but I understand myself that’s the main thing.
Good on the BBC for continuing to support Mae (as they did with Sam) and not dropping her in a flash. Not happy with Naga’s ‘it’s all politics’ comment, though – totally unnecassary, not to mention false.
Not the first time “Naga” has made a dumb comment, give it time she’ll be out the door. I wonder how she would nagsplain Israel finishing 3rd?
She joins a long line. Richard Madeley, Lorraine Kelly, Philip Scholfield, Piers Morgan …
Song is Really Good but on the Live Preformance she was just Bad . And the Stageing Backround was looking like Infant made it if i am honest . She was Fun to have at ESC but she woud never do Better than this Placement with her Talents and Country that Most of Us are Bias Against, and For A Good Reason.
Not a live performer up to the level needed to get a really great Eurovision result but, the songs she’s coming up with feel really authentic to her and she has a great personality that really sells what she’s singing about.
She’s got a fan in me that she might’ve not had without Eurovision and there’ll be others so….success! You go, Mae!
It wasn’t a bad song it was just that there were 10 better songs than hers of various genre’s and performances. For example song 21 Israel similar genre dance pop was staged and performed better so did stand out more in that category. Mae did a good job and will always be remembered as a UK representative. Good luck for the future
I love her! She is so real and honest and has a personality. I freaking love I Wrote a Song! It’s a fun catchy banger that deserved so much better but honestly it failed big time on stage and we saw the signs from the pre-parties (sadly). Mae is a very good writer but her live performances aren’t very good to be honest and maybe she doesn’t feel very confident anymore after the feedback she received from her Eurovision performance. She even cancelled the tour without a reason and she has not performed on TV yet (maybe on Graham Norton… Read more »
Forgot to mention that her Eurovision performance was weak unfortunately and did not do the song justice. There was no sassy attitude and no eye-catching choreography. Mae looked nervous and her outfit was too dark for a fun song. Visuals were just fine, but adding the artist’s face in the background doesn’t help.
I really hope the UK picks a contemporary artist again and not give up. Rina is keen to part in Eurovision so BBC better give her a call to check her schedule.
Mae is performing on GNS, and also on Sunday Brunch this weekend. Has also done numerous festivals this summer.
Various aspects of the live performance were underwhelming to not all that good, although I would maintain some of the visuals and the aesthetic were great, I remember being so pleased when we saw some of the first photos of the staging revealed.
But the song itself was really good, and fans loved it before it went to Liverpool, I hope hindsight remembers it well.
From what I’ve heard of the album there’s some great tracks on it and it’s good, professional pop music. I hope it does well.
I think I prefer for it to have been a Top 10 hit and flunk at Eurovision rather than the other way around. Did not deserve second last as much as Germany did not deserve last.
I still have this on my Spotify and listen to it quite regularly!