Following the roaring success of Sam Ryder’s Spaceman in 2022, the BBC decided to go once again with a song selection from global management company TaP Music, which has Lana Del Rey and Ellie Goulding among its clients.
However, that’s where the similarity ends. This single female act (born in 1997, when the UK last won the contest!) is from Kentish Town, London (where this author lived for a few years in the naughties!) and the sound is quite different to last year’s entry. It actually has a touch of (Irish) Brooke from 2022, mixed in with a kind of Dua Lipa vibe. It’s very ‘poppy’, and is of the current chart trend of a ‘revenge’ track.
In a link to Eurovision 2022 host Mika, when Mae was younger, she appeared in the music video for ‘Grace Kelly’. (The little girl sitting on the piano: ‘the last time we talked Mr Smith, you reduced me to tears. I promise you, it won’t happen again’)
Can the UK repeat their success of 2022? I’m not sure if ‘I Wrote a Song’ has quite the stand out quality of last year’s entry, but as always it’ll come down to the staging and the performance on the night!