In the wake of a Eurovision performance that landed her in the second-to-last place, UK pop sensation Mae Muller didn't shy away from humor. She took to TikTok with a 10-second clip captioned "when someone asks me how well I did at Eurovision," playfully mimicking the question. Yet, as Mae reveals to BBC Newsbeat, this light-hearted response belied the inner turmoil she was grappling with.*
Mae recalls feeling deeply upset and wounded by her 25th place finish, especially in the shadow of UK entry Sam Ryder's near-victory the previous year. "I was like, 'Oh my God, my life is over'," she confesses. Nevertheless, she knew she needed to address it on her terms.
For Mae, the TikTok video was a coping mechanism, a way to take control of the narrative surrounding that fateful night in Liverpool. "I didn't want it to be a 'doom and gloom moment' because I can't deal with people pitying me," she asserts. "The second I did that, everyone laughed it off with me and it highlighted it's not the end of the world."
Reflecting on the contest, Mae chooses to focus on the support she received. "I really felt people were on my side," she affirms. "I had so much fun with the fans and despite the pressure, I was able to be myself."
Mae takes pride in the reception of her entry, "I Wrote a Song," outside the Eurovision arena. It garnered significant airplay, over eight million streams on Spotify, and secured a spot in the UK top 10. "When that happened I had to force myself to take it in," she recalls. "I was in a bit of a cloud but I'd wanted it for so long, so I had to give myself those flowers."
Writing songs has always been Mae's way of processing emotions, but the demands of Eurovision temporarily put a pause on her creative output. "I had no time to write so I didn't write a song for six months," she admits. "I didn't have the mental capacity because it was so all-consuming."
Fortunately, Mae's new album, "Sorry I'm Late," was already in the pipeline. Initially slated for release in March, the date had to be postponed after she became the UK's Eurovision representative. Looking back, Mae believes this delay ultimately worked in her favor. "After coming out of Eurovision, it meant I wasn't twiddling my thumbs. I had a whole album to promote so we had to keep going."
Mae's influences, including Lily Allen, are evident in her candid and comedic songwriting style. She credits Allen's album "Alright Still" as a childhood favorite that she "listened to on repeat a million times." Like Lily, Mae aims for her songs to be conversational and relatable, something that friends might say to each other.
With the release of her album, Mae is eager to dive back into the creative process. "I've missed that. So I'm ready to get into the creative vibe again," she expresses, looking forward to what lies ahead.