Five things you need to know about UK Eurovision entry Mae Muller

Mae Muller has been confirmed as the UK’s entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest in May and will be hoping to build on Sam Ryder’s success at last year’s event.

The north London-raised vocalist, 25, will be the first female entrant for the UK since SuRie competed in 2018 with Storm – coming 24th.

Like Ryder, Muller is not new to the music industry, having released her debut single Close in 2018 and climbing the charts with the 2021 song Better Days after it went viral on TikTok.

Here is what you need to know about the UK hopeful.

– Her full commitment to music came late

Muller was born in 1997 in Kentish Town, north London, and has described herself as a natural performer from a young age.

Last year she told the Golden Plectrum website her aunt is a music video director and she used to spend afternoons as a runner for chart-topping artists such as Labrinth.

Muller was 19 when she wrote her first song, Close, which was produced by a family friend and “paid” for with wine in lieu of money.

Once uploaded to Soundcloud, the song attracted the attention of record labels and she signed to Capitol.

Speaking about her late start, she previously said: “I feel really lucky that in a way I’ve lived a relatively normal life.”

– Female solo artists have been instrumental in her development

Muller inherited a love of Prince and Sade from her parents, with both artists played often around the house.

It was only later when she discovered Gwen Stefani and the No Doubt star’s debut solo album Love Angel Music Baby, released in 2004, that she began to develop her own tastes.

Florence + The Machine and Lily Allen were also early favourites and would shape her own songwriting in future years.

– TikTok was instrumental in her breakthrough

Muller has so far scored one minor hit – the 2021 track Better Days with Swedish producers Neiked and American rapper Polo G.

The track went viral on short-form social media site TikTok as part of a challenge, which helped boost its streams to more than a million across all platforms.

Better Days peaked at number 32 in the UK but also charted across the world.

This echoed the success of Ryder, who found success on TikTok covering pop songs during lockdown before he was selected to compete for the UK.

– Muller was chosen by the same music company that scouted Ryder

The BBC hopes to repeat the UK’s success at the 2022 event by once again joining with global management company TaP Music.

TaP Music, which has counted Lana Del Rey and Ellie Goulding among its clients, helped select Muller and will also help craft her promotional strategy ahead of the contest.

Last year the company revamped the UK’s strategy after years of dismal results.

This included ensuring Ryder’s single, Space Man, got played on BBC Radio 1 instead of Radio 2 and also saw him targeting smaller countries such as San Marino, Serbia, Croatia and Malta, which have the same voting powers as larger countries such as Germany.

– Muller was born in the year the UK last won Eurovision

The UK last triumphed at the contest in 1997 with Katrina And The Waves topping the leaderboard with their anthem Love Shine A Light in Dublin.

The song was the highest-scoring UK entry at that time before being overtaken by Ryder with Space Man in 2022.

That win will seem distant to Muller, who was born the same year, but she will still be hoping to mirror that success with her own track, I Wrote A Song.