The massive global viral hit has now racked up over 10 million TikTok views since Mae first shared a snippet on New Year’s Eve, with interest in the song continuing to explode. It’s far from a one-off moment either, with over 200k monthly listeners flocking to her Spotify to tune into her previously released music too.
The perfect kiss-off to an ex, ‘If We Ever Broke Up’ is reeling in fans at an incredible rate thanks to its no-nonsense attitude and addictive synth melodies. Mae says, “It was written from the perspective of if I was still with my ex-boyfriend and, if I had the attitude and the experience that I do now when I was 16, I would have done all these things and told his dad what he did,” she explains. “I think deep down everyone wants to tell their crappy ex’s dad what they did. I’ve read a lot of comments from people saying that this song helped them through their break-up because it gave them that boss energy!”
Before Mae woke up on New Year’s Day to find her song blowing up globally online, Mae was finding solace and sanctuary in her music-making between working shifts at her local Asda. A songwriter since the age of 12, she’d used music to guide her through the hardships of teenage life, pouring her heart out in emotional, impactful songs penned on her nan’s old piano,
“I used to be quite angry as a kid and I had a lot of pent-up tension, especially coming home from school,” she explains. “I tried so much to find what was going to help me release all of that – stuff like judo, skiing, biking. I tried so many things until it came to song writing. Just being able to sit, close the door, not have anyone around me and just have some space to think and let my emotions out into something creative was probably the one thing that really got me through school, other than my brother.”
The target of cruel bullying, Mae’s school years were far from easy, with her being picked on for being the “loud, quirky kid”. When her classmates found the YouTube channel, she uploaded her original songs and covers on, every video she shared would prompt more hate and spitefulness to be sent her way. Pushing through the nastiness with the help of her music and her brother, she was “determined to push forward and prove a lot of people wrong”.
Now, in Mae Stephens, Gen Z has found a new champion – an artist ready to use her voice to help others and provide the same kind of sanctuary in her music that it gave her while making it, “A lot of kids are probably going through stuff that’s a lot worse than what I went through and it’s not highlighted as much as it should be,” she says. “To watch kids go through that and not have someone to look up to is something I really hope I can help with. I want to be the champion of the underdogs – Mae’s misfits.”
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