After what feels like weeks of teasing from music outlets and industry insiders - especially from a certain Miss Sawayama, whose taunting in hindsight was pure tomfoolery - the UK entry for Eurovision 2023 has finally been revealed as ‘I Wrote A Song’ by Mae Muller. 

The song itself is good. It’s not a Eurovision all-timer like ‘Fuego’ or ‘Slo-Mo’ or ‘Euphoria’, but it’s a solid slice of tropical pop that the UK girlies do so well. Compared to some of the absolute dross we’ve sent in the last two decades, it’s marvellous. What it has going for it is that it isn’t trying to replicate Sam Ryder’s ‘Spaceman’. We’ve gone in the complete opposite direction. It evokes the likes of Mabel’s ‘Let Them Know’ or even Brooke Scullion’s fan-favourite entry for Ireland last year, ‘That’s Rich’. It’s a very UK sounding hit, straight from the Love Island soundtrack, and with that tropical-house type beat that our radio loves. Becky Hill would be proud.  

The song itself is only half the battle - the rest comes down to the performance. There’s no formula for doing well at Eurovision, no set of rules that one must follow in order to succeed. It’s completely in the hands of the public, and it can and will go in any direction. But if Mae throws herself into it, her hair whipping about the place ferociously and her feet stomping across the stage, then we might be in with a chance. 

The legacy of Sam Ryder’s unexpected success last year seems to be crystallising, and it’s a good one. Gone are the years of selecting acts with little to no credits to their names who appear out of nowhere to represent our country. Instead we seem to be opting for semi-established acts with built-in fanbases and extensive performing experience. Mae is currently sitting at 6 million monthly listeners on Spotify, a figure that’s sure to rise in the coming weeks, and she’s been active on the scene since 2019 with a solid debut album under her belt. The situation was similar for Sam Ryder, someone who had already established himself as a legitimate presence in the industry, and who has ridden his Eurovision success to Brit Award nominations and #1 albums. Compare Mae to someone like Surie for example, our 2018 entry, who only had one previous single to her name when she was selected as our act, and her performance reflected that lack of experience. Something drastic has happened in the last two years that didn’t seem to happen for the preceding twenty - the BBC is putting effort into Eurovision. We’ve chosen decent acts with decent songs, and radio and television no longer behaves as though Eurovision is the most embarrassing thing in the world. Gone are the days of selecting ‘will this do?’ type songs. The tides seemed to have turned on Eurovision in general. It’s camp and it’s fun, and after the last few years of hardship that everyone has endured, we need as much camp and fun as we can get. 

Stream 'I Wrote A Song' by Mae Muller here.