OUR HOPEFUL FLAG BEARER
Can the singer-songwriter bring it home?
London-born Mae Muller, 25, is the singer tasked with topping Sam Ryder’s performance last year, aka winning the entire contest. It hasn’t happened since the year Mae was born (Katrina And The Waves in 1997, fact fans), but she’s playing on home turf, and she’s got a banging song up her sleeve, so anything’s possible. It’s helpfully called I Wrote A Song and it deals with that classic pop topic: doomed romance. “I just wanted to write something empowering that would get everyone up off their seats,” Mae says. “When we go through negative things like a break-up, or any kind of heartbreak, it’s easy to focus on the negatives and get lost in that, but I wanted to focus on the empowerment.”
And it seems to have worked – the song is the first UK Eurovision entry to debut in the UK Top 40 in more than a decade.
DEJA VU
But performing live in front of 180million viewers is different gravy altogether. Luckily, Mae already knows her way around the Liverpool Arena, as she was there supporting Little Mix in 2019 – and she’s “definitely excited” about going back. For someone at such an early stage in their career, Mae says representing the UK in the world’s biggest singing competition is a “huge honour, and the fact we’re hosting just feels extra-special.”
EUROPHILE
Mae is a life-long Eurovision fan. Her favourite performance ever is Sweden’s Loreen singing Euphoria from 2012. “That song just does something to my soul,” says Mae, adding, “My earliest memory was probably Scooch in 2007. I loved how fun and camp it was… that’s what Eurovision’s all about.”
The singer has also been familiarising herself with the competition.
“It’s been great getting into the songs from this year after getting to know the other contestants,” she says diplomatically. And if that weren’t enough to prove her Eurovision credentials, she also appeared in 2022 host Mika’s video for his song Grace Kelly in 2007, aged just ten.
See – Eurovision through and through.
‘I wanted to writesomething empowering’
Graham Norton will still be on hand with his sardonic commentary, which is as enjoyable as the acts themselves. (Who can forget last year’s opening salvo, “The theme of this year’s contest is ‘Sounds of Beauty’, which like all themes, means nothing”?) But, as an added bonus, he will also be onstage presenting, too, at which point the great Mel Giedroyc will be on sarky commentary duties.
Joining Graham will be Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham and BGT ’s Alesha Dixon, plus Ukranian singersongwriter Julia Sanina, which is only right and proper, as Ukraine are the actual current champions (see below). Together, they have the hefty responsibility of introducing acts, covering up mistakes and general vibe management. But with a truckload of experience between them, we’re sure they’ll ace it.
And, as an added bonus, you also tune into Radio 2, where Scott Mills and Eurovision superfan Rylan Clark will keep you up to speed with all the chaos. Check out our review on page 66 for full details of the TV coverage.