London’s pop sensation and Eurovision star Mae Muller has released her debut album Sorry I’m Late on September 29th, an album that has been in the works for more than 5 years. As ironic as it sounds, the album release date was moved two weeks – very fitting to the title.
Having supported Little Mix and Liam Payne for their shows and being this year’s UK performer for the Eurovision Song Contest, the 26 year-old Mae Muller is not shy of performing. In fact, she has been making music and performing publicly for years now, releasing several EPs like After Hours, Chapter 1, and No One Else, Not Even You. It therefore comes to no surprise that it was time to release her debut album Sorry I’m Late. We had a listen for you!
The album kicks off with ‘I Just Came To Dance’, a song that was already released earlier this year, immediately pulling you in with its brain-scratching instrumentals. The song is about going out with the intention to just have fun with your friends, but then getting flirtatious attention from another person. A good choice as an album opener, as the lyrics give you this exciting feeling of meeting someone new and hope for something fun, which on a larger scale does the same for the album.
The theme of heartbreak is a recurring one on this album, with ‘Sorry Daniel’ being about ending a relationship yourself in a light way, while the next song ‘Bitch With A Broken Heart’ is about being the one that is broken up with – or at least, the one with a broken heart. These songs show the two sides of a breakup. It then moves on to ‘I Wrote A Song’, this year’s Eurovision entry song, where Mae sings about a person cheating on her, and her being the bigger person by writing a song about it rather than shaming the person publicly or “crashing his Benz”. A catchy and energetic melody that surely most people will recall from Eurovision.
Another overarching theme on the album is selflove, combined with maturity. ‘Me, Myself & I’ is the key example for this, a fun song checking off boys’ names to then conclude “I found myself a keeper, it’s Me, Myself & I”. Next to selflove, Mae shows her vulnerability in this album with ‘MTJL’, ‘Nervous (In A Good Way)’, ‘Porn Lied To Us’ and ‘Miss America’, exploring themes like insecurity, imposter syndrome and falling in love.
‘Tatiana’ featuring Dylan is a song that’s a conversation between two women – Tatiana and Mae – both feeling insecure or perhaps jealous of each other. Dylan and Mae’s styles are very different but go together really well, making this song one of the highlights of the album.
‘Better Days’ is probably one of the most well-known song on the album for now, an energetic disco-like song in the theme of ‘I Just Came To Dance’ and ‘I Wrote A Song’. However, this song being placed between ‘Nervous (In A Good Way)’ and ‘Porn Lied To Us’ is an interesting choice, making it feel like there is no continuity in this part of the album. Nonetheless, putting the song on the album is an understandable choice, knowing that this song is still very popular and does fit with other songs on the record.
Sonically, Mae explores a more electronic sound not unlike Dua Lipa, Mimi Webb and Tate McRae. That does not mean Mae does not stand out – you can hear these songs are authentically hers, honest and personal, and mostly relatable to any 20-something person. My guess is that we’ll be hearing a lot more from Mae in the near future!
Written by: Marloes Joosen
Edited by: Lee Klaver
