Mae Stephens Celebrates Female Empowerment With New Single Woah Man!

Mae Stephens landed a breakthrough smash hit with If We Ever Broke Up. Reaching #13 in the UK during a ten-week Top 20 run, it became a huge airplay hit, was certified Gold in both the UK and US, and fired to #1 on key charts in Japan and China. Now the British artist is primed for a second major international hit as she unveils her new single Woah Man!.

Mae Stephens

Mae Stephens (Press)

Woah Man! bounces with many of the same traits that made If We Ever Broke Up so memorable. It’s a cocktail of luminous alt-pop addictiveness, with pulsating funk-tinged bass cementing a groove as Mae’s appealingly pure vocals celebrate what it means to be a woman. Despite that, Mae’s girl-next-door charm and authenticity doesn’t shy away from the truth – beautiful imperfections in the face of body image stereotypes – but they’re all part of what makes every one of us unique. Ultimately Woah Man! is an anthem perfectly in tune with International Women’s Month.

Stephens says: “Woah Man! is a funk/pop-orientated track highlighting the ups and downs of being a woman and the power and beauty that comes with that, diving into controversial topics like hiding tampons to calling out the inequality of gender hierarchy. ‘Woah Man!’ was created to be an anthem of empowerment for females and a message to the next generation to be proud to be a woman.”

Woah Man! was written by Mae Stephens with Andrea Rocha (RAYE) and Kal Lavelle (Ed Sheeran). It was produced by Andrea Rocha, and was co-produced by Morgan Avenue (Rita Ora) and Jheynner (ANOTR).

Music has always been an escape for Mae Stephens. It was her creative outlet and day-to-day escape when she was bullied at school. And it turned out to be an escape in her adult life too when her TikTok virality saw her land a record deal that meant she could give up her job in a supermarket.

The singer had released a few singles before, but If We Ever Broke Up changed everything. She suddenly became one of the UK’s biggest breakthrough international artists, leading to collabs with The Chainsmokers, Meghan Trainor and Alok, as well as remixes from the likes of Zack Tabudlo and Anton Powers. Her status as an inspiring voice to help misfits find their tribes has also permeated through her work, notably with last year’s debut EP Securely Insecure. Her most recent release, Out Of The Shadows, was the lead track for the rebooted PlayStation 5 game Until Dawn.

Her immensely broad appeal is reflected in some of the major names that she has performed with, including guest slots at both BLACKPINK and P!NK’s BST Hyde Park shows as well as with Tom Grennan in Gunnersbury Park.

More about Mae’s unique story can be heard on ‘The Hidden 20%’ podcast. The 22-year-old tells host Ben Branson about how her ADHD fuels her songwriting, the transformative power of therapy, and why she embraces the weird and wonderful.

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