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

[ESC United Mod Team]

 

[StephenMuckle]

I wonder what was their reasoning behind choosing Mae Muller. Ben Mawson did say that they had a final shortlist of four female singers, and two of them were Brit Awards nominees. If Rina Sawayama was indeed one of them, then this was the biggest bottle job in years. I mean just imagine the momentum of having a potentially fantastic song and performer coming to Eurovision straight off the back of a major role in a blockbuster movie like John Wick. Though I'd imagine the BBC might have decided against her because they might have been afraid of potential complaints from other broadcasters (especially if the song appeared in the film, even if the song itself were eligible under Eurovision rules, there is no rules or precedent for it being used in a film released shortly before the contest, especially one where the artist has a major role in)

I'm guessing the other Brit nominee was probably Cat Burns, and given the rumours surrounding Birdy, she may or may not have been on the list. And then of course there was Mae Muller who was ultimately chosen.

 

[bstream]

This is some of the best staging the UK has had since 2012, with Sam Ryder's topping this, and being on-par with 2016. This has been one of the UK's biggest issues in addition to finding a good song period (and this song is very much fine and was not dead-on-arrival like some past entries)

I just dont get how any country (not just the UK) send artists who struggle to sing + struggle to sing the entry they're sending. I would've imagined that's day-one stuff. Especially coming from the team who picked Sam Ryder, I would expect the short list top be all strong vocalists with song, charisma, staging coming afterwards.

 

[Chrisiam]

I wonder what was their reasoning behind choosing Mae Muller. Ben Mawson did say that they had a final shortlist of four female singers, and two of them were Brit Awards nominees. If Rina Sawayama was indeed one of them, then this was the biggest bottle job in years. I mean just imagine the momentum of having a potentially fantastic song and performer coming to Eurovision straight off the back of a major role in a blockbuster movie like John Wick. Though I'd imagine the BBC might have decided against her because they might have been afraid of potential complaints from other broadcasters (especially if the song appeared in the film, even if the song itself were eligible under Eurovision rules, there is no rules or precedent for it being used in a film released shortly before the contest, especially one where the artist has a major role in)

I'm guessing the other Brit nominee was probably Cat Burns, and given the rumours surrounding Birdy, she may or may not have been on the list. And then of course there was Mae Muller who was ultimately chosen.

We'll never really know for sure. I mean there was those images of Rina on posters in one of the BBC's studios which has never been explained and the song that was rumoured to be her entry does feel "coded" to be about Ukraine and the war there much like Sister's Crown is. So maybe she was supposed to but a contract fell through at the last minute.

Or maybe when they saw Loreen was coming back they didn't want to put her forwards because they were worried they might be seen as copying her. Or they didn't want to run the risk of winning for whatever reason (might have been seen as too costly to be worth it or maybe they were worried a win may overshadow Ukraine) as if Loreen didn't win her NF Rina would have been one of the front runners to win.

Or simply they decided that they wanted to see how a pop song would do and Mae was the closest fit for them. We need to remember that just because Rina didn't do it this year doesn't mean she'll never do it. The BBC working with TaP again makes that more likely in my opinion and I hope they continue to do so. I mean, it has worked so far.

They got a good result in 22 in the adult and junior contests working together, that is two out of three in my book. And hopefully, we can look at this year as being a well-intentioned but misguided effort and a bump on the road to recovery.

 

[jeriswani]

I wonder what was their reasoning behind choosing Mae Muller. Ben Mawson did say that they had a final shortlist of four female singers, and two of them were Brit Awards nominees. If Rina Sawayama was indeed one of them, then this was the biggest bottle job in years. I mean just imagine the momentum of having a potentially fantastic song and performer coming to Eurovision straight off the back of a major role in a blockbuster movie like John Wick. Though I'd imagine the BBC might have decided against her because they might have been afraid of potential complaints from other broadcasters (especially if the song appeared in the film, even if the song itself were eligible under Eurovision rules, there is no rules or precedent for it being used in a film released shortly before the contest, especially one where the artist has a major role in)

I'm guessing the other Brit nominee was probably Cat Burns, and given the rumours surrounding Birdy, she may or may not have been on the list. And then of course there was Mae Muller who was ultimately chosen.

It think they chose Mae because she was able to dedicate her time to Eurovision. Which tbh doesn’t actually matter when it comes to the results. Heck 2 of the top 5 didn’t attend a single pre party and still did extremely well. Elena didnt show up to a pre party either. Vocals, song and the performance is what’s important. How are you going to wow Europe in the 3 minutes that you are given that’s what Eurovision is about. Its hard to wow people with a generic song and average vocals. Sam had a wow factor from day one. We knew he was special. I’m sure we have 1000s of people like him surely?!

 

[Chrisiam]

To be blunt the UK is hardly short on good vocalists who'd want to do it and have a song that could do well. The issue is that the BBC struggles in finding them. Not because the BBC is incapable but because they don't have the eye or experience to make the right call on their own. There are likely singers/performers of Ryder's quality that would love to represent the UK at the contest, we've got to hope the BBC and whoever they might end up working with can get to them and don't bungle the end result with naff staging.

 

[jeriswani]

Also has their ever been a Uk girl bop that has done well? Gina G, Precious, Mae Muller. The problem is people aren’t watching Eurovision to listen to songs they hear on the radio all the time. Plus we simply don’t know how the stage them properly. All did well odds and pre contest but when the actual show happens it just doesn’t materialise. Yet a lot of UK Eurovision fans keep on asking for more of them.

 

[HarryUK]

What's stopping TaP and the BBC still working together, but giving us a proper, professionally done national final - whereby TaP select say 10 artists and songs to compete. That way we avoid going back to the past & we have a more transparent platform for selection.

 

[Chrisiam]

Absolutely nothing is stopping them. But it is getting the artists to do it which is the problem. I mean I'd love for a UK equivalent of Melfest with each region of the UK having acts represented and it being its own mini' Eurovision. But you need enough acts willing to put their name up for a contest like that and the BBC not having celeb' juries and turning it into a mini' X Factor/The Voice.

 

[ArmpitOfEurope]

Well then obviously you must have been watching something else. There is many things wrong with Maes performance can be listed and i'm expecting a mediocre score, but to say she has no sass or charisma is kinda ridiculous.

She was an absolute joy throughout the season, but I didnt see it either during her performance. Think she was too nervous/concentrated on the vocals. Im also among the few that didnt like her staging, too basic, the song deserved something better. And she's too fun for that boring black outfit.

 

[SpiritofKeiino]

Also has their ever been a Uk girl bop that has done well? Gina G, Precious, Mae Muller. The problem is people aren’t watching Eurovision to listen to songs they hear on the radio all the time. Plus we simply don’t know how the stage them properly. All did well odds and pre contest but when the actual show happens it just doesn’t materialise. Yet a lot of UK Eurovision fans keep on asking for more of them.

Ohh I loved Precious with Say It Again in 1999. The performance was flat on the night. Good song tho

 

[Ezio]

This is some of the best staging the UK has had since 2012, with Sam Ryder's topping this, and being on-par with 2016. This has been one of the UK's biggest issues in addition to finding a good song period (and this song is very much fine and was not dead-on-arrival like some past entries)

I just dont get how any country (not just the UK) send artists who struggle to sing + struggle to sing the entry they're sending. I would've imagined that's day-one stuff. Especially coming from the team who picked Sam Ryder, I would expect the short list top be all strong vocalists with song, charisma, staging coming afterwards.

Well, that was a karmic choice, since British people on this forum condescended on our dear angel Pia Maria last year. What goes around, comes around to bite you in the ass.

 

[StephenMuckle]

Random thought but when I watched the video for Mae's song on YouTube, two videos that came up on the "recommended videos" were the infamous Eamon/Frankee profanity loaded songs from 2004 (And it turned out that Frankee wasn't Eamon's ex after all, it was a PR stunt)

 

[Leydan]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1658154852252364800

She's closing in top 5 in the charts.

 

[JenJen94]

Well that I'm glad about! Its a very radio friendly song too and extremely catchy, so I'm happy its doing well in the charts.

 

[Leydan]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1658154852252364800

She's closing in top 5 in the charts.

To add to it, Eurovision songs are completely dominating the 'UK Viral Top 50' on Spotify. Including 8 of the top 10 and all of the top 5. All of them are trending upwards also - the rest are all trending down.

 

[crashworld]

I didn't know Heidi (ex Sugababes) and Shaznay (All Saints) are part of the UK jury. Woo hoo.
I wonder if the Juror A - E corresponds to the Juror list (ie. Juror D is Heidi, Juror E is Shaznay).

 

[Rocket man]

I didn't know Heidi (ex Sugababes) and Shaznay (All Saints) are part of the UK jury. Woo hoo.
I wonder if the Juror A - E corresponds to the Juror list (ie. Juror D is Heidi, Juror E is Shaznay).

Just looking at the UK jury votes, it was almost unanimous that Sweden was top with the jury, 3 out of 5 jury voters, the other 2 jury voters put Loreen 2nd.
And Lithuania was the only other country to be in all five UK jury voter top 10. Sweden really was way ahead of everyone with the UK jury this year.

Results of the Grand Final of Liverpool 2023 - Eurovision Song Contest

Official website of the Eurovision Song Contest. The latest news, photos, videos, participant info, voting results, the Contest's rich history and much more.

eurovision.tv

 

[HarryUK]

I think Lithuania did so well with the UK jury because they used all British backing singers and it was heavily publicised that they did

 

[Iker]

She deserved to come last.

 

[ESC94]

The televote disaster of in numbers:

26th place -
25th place -
24th place -
23rd place -
22nd place -
21st place -
20th place -

18th place -

.....

14th place -
13th place -
12th place -
11th place -

.....

6th place -
7th place -

Finishing last in the following countries:

They were a bit unlucky in some countries but mostly they´re back to 2021 and before.