UNITED KINGDOM 2023

The British song and act were both  revealed on March 9th via an announcement on the Zoe Ball Breakfast show on Radio 2.  Here, the BBC announced that Mae Muller had internally selected as the UK's representative. The song she will sing in Liverpool is called "I wrote a song".

Muller grew up listening to an eclectic mix of music from The Dixie Chicks, Gwen Stefani and Simon & Garfunkel. Mae started writing her own music at the age of eight and later attended Fine Arts College in Belsize Park. Her first claim to fame was being cast in the video for "Grace Kelly" by Mika. After college, she uploaded songs SoundCloud and Instagram where she was then discovered by her manager. Her debut extended play "After Hours" was released in February 2018, and her debut album "Chapter 1" came out in 2019. She has supported Little Mix on tour and, of late, has collaborated on songs with Marshmello, Sigala and Neiked - the latter of these became part of a TikTok challenge.

The first verse in quite softly sang and this is mirrored in the backing track, this continues through the pre-chorus which ends with an echo and sets up the chorus really well. The chorus is repetitive in its lyric, Mae has a quiet fierceness in her delivery and the backing track in maintained. This then ends with the 'da-da-da' refrain which creates a buffer to the next verse but also maintains the playful take on the subject matter. This the procedure is repeated again, albeit with some slight Spanish embellishments in the backing track and then the song almost shuts down. Mae then starts a short spoken word part before the song builds up for the final chorus which end with the name of the song.

This is a great example of a modern British pop song. It has a good beat, a simple structure and plenty of personality. The meaning of the song is pretty universal, although I will admit I was a little concerned that the song lyrics might be a little too negative but actually their delivery is smoother and less angsty than I envisaged. The chorus is a very well crafted piece of work; you end up getting the name of the title three times in one chorus without being too in your face. This is strengthened by the use of simple but useful rhymes. I hope Mae's live show will emphasise the the power and catchiness of the song. It is in essence a simple song and should not be too taxing to sing. I would like the delivery to stay simple and not be an excuse for Mae to include vocal gymnastics to the mix. I also hope there is a slightly better dance routine than that in the video.

I love the 'pack mentality' show in the film clip. My favourite part is when everyone is outside the house holding hands and running away. I can absolutely imagine Mae and her dancers having a quiet kiki about her ex and then exploding into a fun dance routine. It would be a nice way of making it a very solo singing performance but also making it a very cohesive group stage show. I am expecting this to be quite dynamic and considering there is a real lack of girl groups in this years show a show of 'girl power' would also be a strong motif. I feel like the song will go down very well in the hall but the on-stage team will need to ensure she comes across well down the camera and compels people to vote.

ARTIST - Mae Muller

SONG - I wrote a song

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Mae Muller, Alfred Parx, Karen Poole, Lewis Thompson