United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
The United Kingdom made its Eurovision debut at the second ever Eurovision Song Contest in 1957. They have competed every year since, with the exception of 1958 following a failure to obtain an agreement from various artistic unions at the BBC.
The UK is one of only two countries to have had Eurovision victories in four different decades, an impressive record they share with Sweden. Throughout Eurovision history they have enjoyed great success, and endured spectacular loss, finishing in the Top 10 on no less than 42 occasions and finishing in second place 16 times! As well as the good times, there have also been bad times, and they have as well as finished in last place five times.
Last year, the UK turned things around with their stunning 2nd place with Sam Ryder and 'Spaceman'. This 2nd place gave the UK the opportunity to host the 2023 Contest on behalf of Ukraine.
2023 Entry: Mae Muller - 'I Wrote A Song'
United Kingdom is an automatic qualifier as part of the Big 5
My Eurovision Scoreboard ranking: 8th
Odds to win ranking: 10th
(Rankings as of 8 April 2023)
About the artist
Holly Mae Muller was born in London and is 25 years of age. Mae grew up in a Jewish home and is of German and Austrian descent.
Mae has been singing since about the age of eight, and at age nine, she was featured in the video clip for Mika's huge hit 'Grace Kelly' (remember the little girl on the piano?) Her influences include Lily Allen and Florence and the Machine and she credits her obsession with Gwen Stefani as the reason she got into the music industry.
Mae started writing music six years ago and would upload her demo recordings to SoundCloud (they are still there today). She was attending a Fine Arts College in London when she was noticed and scored herself a record deal with Capital Records. Mae released her first music in 2018, and to date she has released many singles. In 2019 she released her first studio album 'Chapter 1'.
It was not until 2021 that Mae had her breakthrough hit 'Better Days'. This was a collaboration with Swedish collective Neiked and American rapper Polo G, with the song reaching no. 32 on the UK charts, no. 23 on the US Billboard charts and no. 16 on Australia's ARIA charts. Mae has also seen success with some of her other music seeing millions of streams on Spotify and TikTok.
Mae is no stranger to the big stage and she has supported several big name acts including Little Mix. She is also said to be a life-long fan of the Eurovision Song Contest and is sure to bring some sass to the stage in May!
About the song
'I Wrote A Song' was co-written by Mae herself, Karen Poole who responsible for many of Kylie Minogue's pop songs, and Lewis Thompson (Rita Ora, Joel Corry). They have given us this slick pop track with bassy undertones and hints of flamenco guitar.
The lyrics have the flavour of girl-power, and the song is essentially, moving on and looking after yourself following a breakup. UK news site Metro recently said about the song..
"Her Eurovision entry, I Wrote A Song, is a banger promoting empowerment, reflecting on being a woman scorned and taking the high road."
'I Wrote A Song' made a big splash when released as it debuted in the UK charts at No. 30. The last time a UK Eurovision reached inside of the top 40 charts on release was Blue's 2011 entry 'I Can'.
How Mae Muller was selected for Eurovision
BCC internally chose the UK entrant for Eurovision this year. An internal selection process commenced in September 2022 and there were many acts being considered, with many rumours circulating on who it might be.
It was announced on 9 March 2023 via the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, that Mae Muller was the chosen artist with her song 'I Wrote A Song'.
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The United Kingdom will compete in the Grand Final on May 13 (European time) in Liverpool and is the final act of the show before voting commences.
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