Mae Muller is heading on her rescheduled UK tour to perform her debut EP, no one else, not even you this month. Headlining her biggest tour to date, Mae is thrilled to be performing for her fans in person again. After the recent success of her track ‘Better Days’, collaborating with NEIKED, Polo G and J Balvin, Mae has climbed charts globally and is starting 2022 busier than ever, from jetting across to the US, to announcing a string of festival performances later this year.
Jasmin sits down to speak to Mae over a Zoom call on International Women’s Day, whilst she is briefly in the UK before heading back to the other side of the Atlantic at the end of the week.
How are you doing Mae, I bet you’re probably very jet lagged at the minute, having been jetting about quite a bit?
Do you know what, I am, and I’m a bit like a crazy woman at the minute. That's a part of life though isn't it, and I feel like when you have jet lag you are able to tap into this different realm and it sometimes brings the best out of me, I don't know! I go back to New York on Thursday, so I'm going back into the time zone anyway.
Your rescheduled UK tour also starts next month. I can say I'm very excited for that to finally go ahead, I bet you must be elated?
Oh my God, I've been waiting to do this tour for like two years so I just feel so ready for it. I feel like all of us are at that point where we just need to do this thing now. The world is now in a slightly better place and the music is so good and I'm very excited to do those shows. We’ve had to reschedule it twice and I’m glad it’s finally time to give you guys the show you deserve.
It’s been a few years now since you wrote your EP no one else, not even you. How do you think it’s going to feel performing that EP after so long?
I believe everything actually happens at the right time, and I do feel that about this tour now. Especially coming off the back of the pandemic and everything over the last two years, things went a bit backwards for the music industry. However it definitely feels like the perfect time to do this tour now, as even though we wrote and recorded these songs a while ago, everyone has had the chance to properly listen to them, and everyone knows them really well now. That is what is going to make the tour so much more fun! So I'm just really excited for this to finally go ahead, as I haven't been able to perform these songs live very much so far. So I'm definitely ready to perform them and I think people are ready to hear them. It’s all going to come to life in the best way I think.
You have said previously that your lyrics are very personal to you, so how do you feel now you’re going to be performing these songs to your fans, knowing that they're going to be singing along every single lyric with you?
Yeah, it always feels amazing when people can relate to your lyrics, It's the most satisfying and fulfilling feeling. These are songs that I have written in a room with maybe one or two other people, and then when you're suddenly standing in front of hundreds, and thousands of people and they’re all singing it back, I'm like OK, I must be doing it right! It’s relatable to people and it's obviously making them feel something and that's the entire reason why I do it. I want people to relate to the music and to feel it. I have really missed that feeling of togetherness, when we’re all together and I can sing these songs with you all. I'm like I really missed you guys, you know?
On another note, happy International Women's Day!
Thank you so much, happy International Women's Day to you too, it's an important day.
What women in your life will you be celebrating today?
I have so many amazing women in my life, I'm surrounded by women constantly which is just such a blessing! There’s obviously my mum, I’ve got to thank my mum. She's just brilliant, I love her. You know when you grow up and you realise, my mum is like an actual person? She is like a human being with feelings and she's real. I think that has brought us closer together, and she's the hardest working, most hilarious person and I just love her. And of course, all my friends are amazing, and I know I'm very lucky to be surrounded by some boss ass women!
I’ve noticed that you're very active on Instagram and your stories can be very entertaining! Do you like engaging with your fans and social media?
Absolutely, I think social media comes with its challenges, but if you can find your own way with it, it can be really fun. It’s a direct way for you to interact with so many people and I think that's the best thing! Honestly, my fans are just hilarious. They message me the funniest things sometimes and it's constant entertainment for me. I try to tap into social media quite a bit for this reason. I also like to think I'm an open person and so I think it's important to share all the great bits and the pretty parts, but that it’s also important to share the not so pretty parts too. I think I've found the beauty and the fun in doing that as well, by showing the parts that aren't as beautiful.
It’s so easy to constantly compare yourself to other people on social media these days, so it is great to see someone that people look up to sharing content online in a real and honest way.
Yeah and I'm not saying I don't post that kind of stuff, as I do edit my pictures sometimes and I do probably make myself look a little bit better than I do in real life on occasion, but I always try to be honest about that as well. I will say look, this is not reality, I use this app to get this effect. As long as you're open and honest about it I think it's absolutely fine and I think you need to learn how to use it genuinely, and figure it out in your own way.
I also really like the way you put a spin on the horrible comments that people make, those are very entertaining to see on TikTok.
Sometimes you’ve got to troll them back, you know? I know they say you should be the bigger person and ignore the haters, but sometimes I don’t think I should. 9 times out of 10 these people think they can message you this stuff and they don't think there will be any consequences, so sometimes I am just like: let me just put them in their place! Most of the time they’ll always come back with “I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it” and I'm just like, well why would you say it then? I find it very entertaining and this stuff doesn't really bother me.
It is hilarious to see you acknowledging it. Anyway, your tour is coming up soon and that's very exciting, but pretty much straight after that the festival season is coming up, are you looking forward to it?
I am so excited for the festivals this year! Last summer was my first ever festival season. I've done the odd festival here and there, but it was the first time where I was hopping around doing quite a few, and I loved it. So I'm really excited to do the same thing again, I just think it's the best fun! You’re in a field, or you’re in a nice bit of countryside or wherever you are in a big park and everyone is just having a great time, everyone’s having a little drink and a little dance. It’s great, imagine if we could do it every day, the world would be a much better place.
Absolutely, I feel like I spend all year waiting for summer and the festivals. Did you go to many festivals when you were younger?
I try not to have any regrets in my life but this is one, as I didn't really go to a lot of festivals when I was younger and I don't really know why. When I was about 15, I think a lot of my friends were going and my parents were a bit unsure about sending me to a field full of 15 year olds, all probably off their heads. I didn't really go when I was younger and then when I started doing music I felt like I kind of missed the boat as I didn’t have the time to go by then. I did go to one festival though, I went to one called Dour Festival in Belgium and that was a lot of fun. Most of my festival experiences so far have been just me performing, which is also amazing fun but I'm wanting to go to more festivals, so that's one of my new year New Year's resolutions.
I'm sure there are plenty of festivals in your future! Your latest single Better Days is surely going to be a summer favourite this year, I know it was released in September but it feels like such a summer tune already.
I think so too! That song has really changed everything in the best way, and I'm definitely hoping that people will still be banging it out in the summer because it is such a summer bop, so maybe it'll come back.
That song has gone viral for the right reasons, I'm obsessed with the acoustic version as well, your voice really comes out in that version, it's incredible.
Thank you, I love doing an acoustic moment. I feel like it’s important to have all the different layers, man, you’ve got to have a little sassy moment, you’ve got to have a little intimate moment. I think it's always good to give the people a few different vibes, I’ve always been down for that.
So is the viral success of Better Days making you more stoked for releasing more music in the future?
I feel that as much as we like to say that it's not about the numbers, Better Days has over a quarter of a billion streams across all platforms now. These aren’t just numbers but they also represent people, tuning in and listening to it, so of course it makes me more excited. It just means that hopefully more and more people are going to be coming on this journey with me, and that just makes it much more fun! It definitely makes it more exciting come festival season as I’m already thinking: wow, how many people are going to show up this time?
Mae Muller will perform at Newcastle University on Monday 25th April. Tickets available here: https://www.maemuller.com/live/
