Eurovision 2023: Mae Muller announced as UK act for song contest

Mae Muller will represent the United Kingdom at this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

The 25-year-old will perform her track I Wrote A Song at the competition in May, hoping to follow the success of Sam Ryder last year.

"To compete in such a massive music competition is simply brilliant," she said, describing her involvement as "a dream".

The UK is one of the last competing countries to reveal its song for 2023.

Following the same selection process as last year, the BBC has been working with a management company to pick the act.

Muller was born in 1997 - the year the UK last won Eurovision - and has previously supported Little Mix on tour as well as working with artists like Aitch and Sigala.

"I'm a huge fan of so many of the artists that have found success at Eurovision, from ABBA to Måneskin," Muller said.

"Sam Ryder was so amazing last year and proved the UK can be back on the left-hand side of the leaderboard."

Ryder came second in last year's contest, giving the UK its best result in 20 years.

Muller said she was aware she had a lot to live up to.

"This is obviously such a level up from anything I've ever done, and I can really feel it," said the singer. "You've got to go big and you've got to do it right."

She said Ryder had already been in touch with some tips. In an Instagram video, he also congratulated Muller on her selection.

"You're in for the most wild, inexplicable ride and I'm chuffed for you," he said. "Have a blast."

After years of dismal results, Ryder turned things around for the UK at the 2022 competition, placing second to Ukraine.

TaP Music management, which has worked with Dua Lipa, Lana Del Rey and Ellie Goulding, were the team who selected the TikTok star and his song Space Man for the contest.

This year, they started with "a shortlist of 50 or more" acts, said co-owner Ben Mawson; but when they met Muller, they instantly "fell in love with her".

"We needed someone with a huge amount of charisma and an incredibly strong voice, who can perform flawlessly on the night without making any mistakes," added the firm's co-president Anna Neville.

"Mae is witty, she's funny, We've got so much faith in her. Mae is going to bring it home."

Spiky break-up songs are Mae Muller's trademark, and I Wrote A Song is no exception.

Over a polished club beat, she gleefully takes down a cheating ex, listing all the things she wants to do to him - make a scene outside his house, crash his car, generally make his life a misery.

Instead, she goes meta, working out her anger by writing a song about writing a song about him. "And that's what we call growth, ladies and gentlemen," she said in a video introducing the song.

Described by one colleague as "a Bulgarian nightclub banger" and by my 13-year-old as "too good for Eurovision", it's certainly the most contemporary, credible song we've sent to the contest in a long time.

Mae's sassy north London charisma conveys the depth of her contempt, and the singalong chorus is instantly memorable.

The flourishes of flamenco guitar are more Mi Chico Latino than La Isla Bonita. But still, they're an astute acknowledgment of Europe's influence on a British music industry that too often sees itself as superior.

As for the song's chances, I'm in two minds. My first reaction to the song was like a cat tasting wasabi: Get this horror show away from me.

It took a couple of listens to fully embrace Mae's campy insouciance. After 24 hours, I can't get it out of my head - but in Liverpool, she only gets one chance to impress the Eurovision voters.

The country will be holding its breath to see what they decide.

Like Ryder, Muller will spend the months leading up to the contest promoting her song to outside the UK.

"There's an extra Eurovision dynamic, which involves going to countries you wouldn't ordinarily go to on a promotional campaign," said Mawson.

"Lots of travel, lots of radio and TV, lots of interviews. It's going to be be a tiring few months for her - but hopefully fun."

Muller said she was raring to go. "I can't wait to see you all. I can't wait to get to Liverpool," she posted on TikTok. "I'm very excited! What is life?"

Most of the 37 competing countries have confirmed the song and act they will be sending to Liverpool, with a deadline set for 13 March for the handful who have yet to confirm their plans in public.

There are typically two ways a Eurovision entry is chosen: An internal selection, in which an act is chosen behind the scenes; or a national selection, involving a TV show where the winner gets to fly their country's flag in Liverpool.

Thousands of Eurovision fans follow how each country chooses its act with events like Super Saturday gripping devotees across the continent.

Normally, the country who wins hosts it the following year but organisers ruled it was too dangerous in Ukraine, following Russia's invasion, so the BBC was asked to host it instead.

Earlier this week, tickets for May's event sold out in 90 minutes, with fans now being warned scammers are targeting their hotel bookings with phishing cyber-attacks.

All the build-up, insights and analysis is explored each week on a new BBC podcast called Eurovisioncast.

Eurovisioncast is available on BBC Sounds, or search wherever you get your podcasts from.