Mae Muller has admitted she’s at ‘the end of my tether’ and is close to quitting her music career.
The singer is best known for representing the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023, where she came second last in the Grand Final with just 24 points.
Weeks later, she spoke about her vocals on the night being ‘trash’ and how she was worried the poor reception from the public and juries could end her career.
Instead, her single I Wrote a Song hit the UK top 10, while her debut studio album Sorry I’m Late reached the UK top 40.
However, three years on she’s now spoken about being on the verge of walking away from music for good.
In a now-deleted TikTok, Mae, who had previously split from her record label and cancelled a tour, declared she’d recently been feeling ‘miserable’.
Speaking to the camera, the 28-year-old began by sharing: ‘I’m just gonna be vulnerable for a second because you guys are my close friends, this is literally my close friends.
‘This music thing, I need you guys to tell me not to quit because why is it so hard.
‘I feel like I’ve been doing it for so long now and I just feel like all the joy and fun has been sucked out and it’s kind of making me miserable.’
She continued: ‘I don’t know guys, I need you guys to remind me why I like doing this cos I absolutely love ya’ll, I love you, I love making music, I love performing, I love everything about it but I just feel like what it’s turned into, I don’t know if I have it in me guys.
‘I do have it in me but I’m getting to the end of my tether and I don’t wanna be miserable, I wanna be happy. Tell me not to quit.
‘I don’t wanna quit on you guys, but it’s testing my last nerve, I can’t.’
On the post Mae wrote over it, ‘trigger warning: me being vulnerable’, while she captioned the video: ‘Like can I just be a songwriter atp girl I’m tiiiiiiired.’
Despite feeling deflated, Mae was supported by many of her fans who urged her to keep going.
‘Genuinely please don’t quit. It’s not all about being the biggest star, you can successfully be a fab niche artiste. There are so many amazing divas out there killing it!’ one wrote, as per The Sun.
‘Never quit but take breaks when needed. You’re such a talented icon and the world deserves to hear you serve it,’ someone else wrote.
‘Don’t you dare quit… girl I need your music to live honestly. Maybe take a break, look after yourself first always. We will all understand,’ another added.
Mae’s first experience of the music industry came as a child when in 2007 she appeared in the music video for Mika’s Grace Kelly, which was directed by her aunt.
After later going on to upload her music to SoundCloud, she was discovered and signed, with her debut EP released in 2018.
Throughout her career she’s also released a further four EPs and supported Little Mix.
A few weeks after competing in Eurovision, she addressed not getting the result she wanted and wrote on Twitter: ‘Not gonna lie, anyone who tries to drag me for my vocals at Eurovision is wasting their time cos I already know they were trash.’
Continuing, she admitted that she ‘got nervous’ and explained to her followers that: ‘Ya girl didn’t give her best performance vocally.’
But despite criticising her vocal performance, she declared that her boobs ‘looked good’ on stage.
She then went on to say she felt like she was ‘thrown to the lions’ as her song was ‘meant to be sung with heavy autotune’.
A year after her Eurovision performance, she slammed the contest, accusing it of not doing enough to protect each performer’s mental health.
When asked why she doesn’t engage much with Eurovision anymore, she responded: ‘The pressure is just too much, it’s a shame cos I love performing and I love music, but the fans were the only thing that made it enjoyable.
‘More needs to be done to protect the artist’s mental health,’ she added, ‘because it’s not actually normal what they go through’.
Ahead of her performing at Eurovision, old tweets of Mae’s resurfaced in which she declared she ‘hated’ the UK during the time of Boris Johnson’s leadership.
She later acknowledged the posts ‘weren’t ideal’ as she was representing the country but doubled down on her previous comments.
‘It’s a privilege to be born here and that’s why I felt strongly. We deserve the best and at that time this amazing country wasn’t getting the best. We were being let down,’ she said.
Last year she was also one of over 70 past Eurovision acts to sign an open letter to the European Broadcasting Union demanding that Israel be banned from the contest, accusing the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation Kan of being ‘complicit in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza’.
Recently speaking on the podcast The Pieces, she said that ‘pretending that music and art is not political is silly’ and referenced ‘a double standard’ of Russia being kicked out of the contest after invading Ukraine, but Israel still being able to compete.
Mae, who grew up in a Jewish household in London, has previously spoken about her grandfather Robert fleeing Nazi Germany as a 12-year-old and coming to the UK.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.