United Kingdom UNITED KINGDOM 2023 - Mae Muller - I Wrote a Song

[ESC United Mod Team]

 

[Ianp16]

After seeing that clip I'm even more scared. Even the styling is off. It could only get worse if she falls down the stairs.

 

[HayashiM]

To be fair, the sound mixing doesn't do anyone any favours this year as the lead vocals are not loud enough, this is not only on Mae.
But yeah, I am sorry , this looks like this year's Adrenalina to me.

 

[Rub7922]

Best bet would be to hit twitter and get the message across to them. Like others; that clip did nothing but make me nervous for a bottom 5 result.
I’m sure Ukraine will give us points so we should avoid 0 point.
I think she needs to wear something way way way better. Black is poor given the vibrant colours on stage.
Vocals…they need to drown her out as much as possible. It’s really going to be that which sinks her.

 

[Leydan]

At this point it's too late really to pushing for changes. She gets 1 more dress rehearsal tomorrow before the jury show, if it's not done by now then it is what it is. It's not hard to whack the backing vocals up at least yes, but tbh we'd better just admit this is going to crash and burn.

 

[RainyWoods]

The staging is delicious, the charisma is there and strong... the vocals though..... oh oh. And actually I don't blame this really on Mae at all. It's the mixing. This is an upbeat pop song and she needs (shouldn't be ashamed of having) more backing support. Other songs this year are drowned in backing. For a song with so much movement she needs louder help. The chorus just sounds weak. I'm worried now.

 

[Ali_]

I commented when it was first released that it's a good current entry for the UK but I couldn't see it working as a live performance and sadly that's the case. I like the staging and she performs it well (other than the awkward looking at the floor trying not to fall down the stairs...) but the vocal just isn't it. The mic volume I think is playing a role but her voice sounds thin. I would say just ramp up the backing vocal or back track but there's no time to rehearse that now so it could end up sounding just as bad. Sigh.

 

[midnightsun]

The mic volume I think is playing a role

That‘s everyone‘s problem this year. I don’t know if people from other countries perceived it differently but I thought the mic volume is switching a lot during a song. So annoying. All contestants suffer from this.

Best example for it was Victor from Greece yesterday. In his verses his voice was very loud and prominent, barely backing sounds but during the chorus his voice suddenly sounded so far away. Verse sounded like studio production, chorus like a live recording of a concert.

 

[Rocket man]

Now that I've watched the second semi-final performance, I actually love the staging. One of the best in the contest this year. I'm liking the attitude and choreo for this, the ONLY problem is the vocals. The song for me is not to my taste BUT following Croatia in the final is perfect because "I Wrote A Song" will stand out even more for being a song you can hear in the music charts.

 

[Sabrewulf238]

Just watched the performance, oof. I thought we might see none of the big 5 in the bottom this year but I think I got ahead of myself.

With those vocals if they don't do something I think it's flopping hard on Saturday.

I agree that the staging is cool, I especially like the start where she's standing inside her own head.

 

[DanielLuis]

It's incredible how lifeless the whole thing felt despite being the host entry.
There was 0 energy from the crowd during the performance. If that is the case tomorrow this is gonna do really, really badly.
And while it's true the the mixing is weird for most entries this year, that's not the whole reason here. When looking at the recap of all finalists, the vocals for the UK are noticeably much much worse than anyone else in the final.

I really hope things go much better tomorrow for Mae but it's really not looking good. Hope she won't be mistreated by the media if this comes last.

 

[Kant1]

This is really going to flop tomorrow. I liked the studio version of the song a little, but her outfit, her energy, and her vocals aren't going to help at all. The performance seems forced, and remains at best painful to watch.

 

[Mrlazzyjazzy]

She seems kinda sluggish, where was the attitude from the music video. She has like no pre recorded vocals, obviously the UK delegation are aware with not releasing her rehearsal footage and her saying she was on vocal rest. Why didn't they at least try to help and turn the backing vocals all the way up. Cyprus is essentially singing along with the main vocal track on the studio version, why isn't she doing the same?

 

[HarryUK]

I wouldn’t even be mad if we did a Poland and got Mae to sing over an extremely loud backing track!

 

[Leydan]

I wouldn’t even be mad if we did a Poland and got Mae to sing over an extremely loud backing track!

Bejba, Is Keynah Krejza

 

[Chrisiam]

Well if the UK does flop this year I hope the BBC doesn't throw the baby out with the bathwater and we start to go backwards with our song and artist selections. I still have nightmares of us going back to the pre-Sam Ryder world.

 

[Kant1]

Well if the UK does flop this year I hope the BBC doesn't throw the baby out with the bathwater and we start to go backwards with our song and artist selections. I still have nightmares of us going back to the pre-Sam Ryder world.

Bring back Electro Velvet please

 

[Iker]

will place bottom 5 certainly. The lack of pre-recorded vocals being used is a mistake and that likely styling is a ... choice.

 

[Leydan]

What's crazy to me, this is the exact same team who did our JESC performance and they all worked overtime last minute to change things and add backing vocals in order to help Freya because she was just so sick and it paid off enormously. They must be seeing the issue here with Mae, but don't seem to have done anything to fix it. By all accounts todays rehearsal wasn't different.

We're also odds on fave to come last now. Not to jump the gun, but it's clear that Sam was our Michael Schulte moment and not Anouk.


edit: I feel sorry for her, because the public will react poorly and then the right wing media rags are baying for blood and will drag her sooo hard.

 

[Chrisiam]

Well with Freya she was a generally strong vocalist who was cut down by illness and the delegation had to practically rework the entire song to turn it into an ensemble song to help her. With Muller, from what I have seen of her during the Eurovision period at least, her performances have been too hit-and-miss to really work with in comparison; in some performances she is weak, other times she is 'good enough', and sometimes she is good.

And as such from a production point of view it is hard to really plan for that. Tonight/Tomorrow she might be weak or she might be good. Whilst I do feel they need to be cautious there is the risk that they'd just spend what little time they have left focusing on the wrong thing and it making things worse when it doesn't need to be. Honestly, I feel that had they shared the clip that was cut the other day the delegation would have been given feedback that they could have used by now. But now it is far too late in the game to really do much.

Again, I hope she has just been "resting" but we are well beyond the point that can be used as an excuse.

 

[ESCConor]

I really hope TAP Music dont drop out as its looking likely that we are looking at a bottom 5 finish.

I think you could compare the UK to France last year, Voila finished 2nd in 2021, but France finished last in 2022, however they are a very strong contender for top 5 again this year.

I would imagine the likes of Lee Smithurst and Andrew Cartmell will be back within the UK Delegation next year so I hope we can see them being more hands on.