Who is Mae Muller; from ‘Grace Kelly’ to Eurovision 2023, and almost everything in between

She is officially the UK’s entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 and despite not knowing the name, you might be familiar with the face - even from an early age. Mae Muller was revealed as the UK’s hope for a Eurovision 2023 win this morning on Zoe Ball’s BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show, but the reveal has left some people scratching their heads - “who?”

With her single “I Wrote A Song” set to not only infiltrate the radio waves (but not available for streaming yet - as per Eurovision rules) and become your earworm leading into the Liverpool-hosted event in May, naturally there is much discussion over where she came from and if she has the pedigree to lead the UK to its first win since Katrina and The Waves in 1997.

The pedigree, we can assure you, is there; her last single, “I Just Came To Dance”, has been streamed over 2.5 million times and she’s cut her teeth regarding live performances by supporting Little Mix, before going on a solo tour herself in 2020 and earning US airplay throughout her rise within the music industry.

With the first play of the Eurovision single taking place shortly after the announcement, the writers of “I Wrote A Song” have certainly done their homework on how to write a Eurovision “hit.” The song has the tenets of Euro-pop that you would naturally associate with the best (and worst) of Eurovision entries throughout history, but with an EDM element that is not overtly in your face, but still enough to modernise the track - and a stylistic trait, that suits Mae Muller to a tee.

Peopleworld takes a dive into how the kid from Mika’s ‘Grace Kelly’ video ended up being the bastion of hope for UK Eurovision fans, and some of the collaborations she was involved in before her announcement this morning as the UK’s official Eurovision Song Contest 2023 entry.

She counts Florence Welch and Lily Allen as early influences

Born in Kentish Town, London on August 26 1997, it didn’t take long for Muller to earn her first moment in the spotlight. She featured opposite Mika in the “Grace Kelly” video, but it certainly wasn’t his kind of music that inspired her to become a performer. No offence, Mika.

Growing up on a mix of The Chicks, Gwen Stefani and Simon and Garfunkel, it was two female singers that empowered Muller and inspired her love that music can truly be a form of expression, no matter how “mundane” the topic.

Speaking to Clash Magazine in 2021, Muller explained “I listened to Florence + The Machine a lot, I went to see her in Shepherds Bush, and it was one of the first concerts I had been to and I knew every word. Even though our writing styles are quite different she is such an amazing storyteller, and she is very visual and that really inspired me.”

“I knew I wanted to write stories; I wanted my songs to be visual so when you close your eyes you are able to see them. Lily Allen was a big one, she made me realise that you can be and sound like yourself and not have to change the way you are.”

She fostered her following much like Arctic Monkeys did

Her first foray into releasing music was through the use of social media, in particular an audio-sharing platform called Soundcloud. Much like many bedroom producers had done before and continue to do so on the platform to this day, Muller shared her first work, “Close” in February 2017 to the then-thriving Soundcloud community.

Despite being signed to Capitol Records a year later, the track remains on her Soundcloud profile, a testament to how important that early exposure was for her. She coupled this track with some smaller covers on Instagram, but it was the overwhelming support she received on Soundcloud that led to her being signed.

This is kind of akin to how Arctic Monkeys were signed by Domino Records in 2005, off the strength of their MySpace page and their ‘Beneath The Boardwalk’ EP that, according to the band, was simply uploaded by a mate. Want another comparison? How about the early influence Muller discussed with Clash Magazine - Lily Allen also fostered a huge following through MySpace when that social networking platform reigned supreme.

Her first recordings cost her a bottle of wine

It was the very track that got her noticed by Capitol on Soundcloud that also saw her part with a fee for recording time. But rather than a monetary value, it was something else she parted with instead - much cheaper than an hourly rate also.

“I gave him a bottle of wine for doing it, because I had no money,” she told The Line of Best Fit in 2018. She had no advance from a record label, no means of distribution aside from SoundCloud, and she had no idea what she was going to do with her life. In the same interview, Muller reveals the jobs she had around this time; “I worked in American Apparel on Oxford Street for a year and then I worked in a pub in Kentish Town for a year. I just left the pub [job] around seven months ago, I still go in there sometimes. I was trying to figure how what I wanted to do and who I was as a person because I had no idea.”

“After college, I did feel like, ‘S**t, what do I do now?’ But I’m happy I did those jobs because it made me realise I wanted to do something creative. It just really pushed me to work hard, I guess."

She was involved in Dua Lipa’s Puma collaboration

Technically speaking, her crew and herself were chosen by Puma as one of several female creatives to endorse their MAYZE brand in 2021. Puma filmed Muller and her crew, consisting at that time of Jaime Jarvis (stylist), Zara Ali (make-up artist), Hanya Fathi (best friend and music PA), Prinny Rae and Amber Leaux (friends and podcasters).

It was important for Muller to have her support network heralded as much as she was as a one to watch at that time, telling Clash Magazine that “it’s so important, it’s easy to forget that when you work towards something and you have a particular goal and everyone is working towards achieving it, that everyone does have their individual lives and they all go through their own stuff.”

She continued “there have been times where my friends or team have been going through something and seeing the strength they have to show up and do what they need to for everyone to win is amazing. All the friends that I have, I’ve had them for around 15 years, and they keep me so grounded. It’s important to have those things around you and it’s ultimately about trust and it means everything – I don’t know where I would be without them!”

She is already a Platinum-selling artist

Through her collaboration with Swedish dance group Neiked and alongside rapper Polo G, Muller has already amassed two platinum records, a silver and a gold record to boot. “Better Days", released in 2021, earned Muller the elite award from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).

Despite her early successes, she feels like an imposter

Many of us feel that stinging sensation at times that our successes might be impressive to other people, but for ourselves, it’s not quite enough. Muller explained to The Line of Best Fit that her first experience recording in Los Angeles left her with a bad case of imposter syndrome.

"To be honest, it wasn’t until three months ago that I really felt like I deserved to be in the rooms that I’m put in," she explains regarding working with Jimmy Napes, the Oscar, Golden Globe, Grammy and Ivor Novello-winning songwriter best known for his work with Sam Smith and Disclosure, and Two Inch Punch, who’s co-written with Years & Years, Jessie Ware and Rag’n’Bone Man.

"It took me a long time to feel like I was worthy of it. It’s been a long process. But now I feel like I’m where I need to be."

“I just feel like my confidence has grown through trial and error," she explains regarding her change in attitude being in Los Angeles. "The more you write, the more you sing, the more you improve. And I think when I felt myself improving, my view on everything started to change.

“I started to think: ‘I am good at writing. I can sing. I can perform.’ Of course I still feel grateful to everyone who works with me, but I used to feel like, ‘Oh my God, I owe them so much because they’ve given up their time for me.’ But now I’m like, ‘I know I deserve to be here. This is a collab. They’ve chosen to be in a room with me as well as vice versa.’ Learning to understand that has been one of the main things I’ve had to conquer.”