Today we’d like to introduce you to Faith Miller.
Hi Faith, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Music has always been a part of my life. My mom told me when I was three, I had the entirety of The Sound of Music memorized. I was in all of the musicals in high school and sang in the community choir as well, so I’ve always been involved somewhere musically. I didn’t start recording music until I was in college, though. I believe it was my sophomore year, and my friend at the time had a crush on this guy who had started to produce beats and record a couple local rappers, his name is Elliott. She wanted to be able to spend time with him so she had booked me a studio session and asked to tag along. Obviously, the session went well and I started to record a lot more with Elliott. It took me a second to learn how to properly sing in a recording mic versus projecting to a live audience like I was used to, but once I got comfortable everything felt so natural. In the writing aspect, I started off using the writing process as therapy. I could talk about certain things and vent a little. I have a lot more fun with things now and allow myself to sometimes take on other roles and think about things from a different perspective, similarly to how an actor gets into character. My music really took a turn for the better once I started to really develop a friendship with Elliott. We started writing and creating from genuine experiences and events that we had gone through together within our own friend group. All of this caught quite a bit of attention from the school and we got booked from several shows, I remember there was one October we had a show every weekend. I love performing so it’s something that’s completely taken over my schedule recently and I’m booked solid for the next two months. It’s encouraging to see the growth that’s happened over the past two years of me recording and where it’s taken me.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
For me, the biggest struggle has been navigating the business side of the industry. I didn’t start out making music thinking that it would be possible for me to do it professionally, so I wasn’t ready for all of the opportunities that were presented to me. It’s very important to make sure that you have a solid group of people around you, especially as a woman. It was exciting at first to hear that a lot of people wanted to work with me, but very quickly I was finding myself in situations that were extremely exhausting. I’ve found that men will use the excuse of wanting a feature to try and ask me out or try to book studio time just meet up with me, and they don’t have any genuine intentions of working together. Now this isn’t everyone and not all of them do this, but there are a lot that do. It can be frustrating and it made me feel like I wasn’t a good artist at first, but having people like Elliott to refer to when it came to features really helped because he himself is a guy and would always keep it real with me. Recently there have been more people on the production and business side of things reaching to give me guidance and help as I navigate the ins and outs of everything. My love life is an absolute joke though because of how busy I am. It’s hard to find somebody that’s willing to build with you when you’re gone all the time. I like to give everything one hundred and ten percent and sometimes relationships end up being more of a distraction than anything, especially just starting off my career. I think most women who are in the entertainment field can relate to this.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a professional recording artist and I make music. Art is subjective so it’s hard to pinpoint something that I specialize in, but not only am I a vocalist, but I’m a writer as well. Most people know me for my music video for my song “You” featuring my producer and friend, Elliott that was shot by a well-known videographer Torrey Productions. They also know me from my song “Enough” that’s done really well. I can’t say too much about what I’m most proud of because it’s not out yet, but just known that there’s so much more to look forward to this coming summer. I really believe my work ethic is what sets me apart from everyone others. My dad raised me to be completely independent and to chase my dreams. For me there is no plan B, this is what I want to do and now that I have some direction, I feel like I’m moving with more precision. I’m a firm believer in manifestation. This last season of my life has really showed me that this is what I love to do and I really can make this my life if I want to. Lastly, I’ll say that the biggest thing that sets me apart is that everyone who is in my circle believes in me, but they also are pursuing their own dreams as well. I’ve been so fortunate to be surrounded by such an amazing group women. My friend Ron’Zena has her own podcast and is super dedicated to helping me get content because both of us share a love for growing our social media platforms, my friend Hana is also a singer and has amazing voice that has such a unique tone, and I love hearing her new ideas and running my own by her, and my friend Jalisa who is a DJ and has her own radio show has been my rock over this last year. Every day she motivates me to keep going and encourages me when I get overwhelmed. Everyone around me is motivated and encourages one another and builds off of each other. We’re always trying to help each other reach our goals, and it’s so much more fulfilling to watch all of us grow with each other and be able to create memories while we’re doing it.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I do think I’m a big risk-taker, sometimes to my detriment, but what did YG say? “Scared money, don’t make no money”. I have a lot of goals and I constantly find myself multitasking several different things or taking on too much at one time and that leaves a lot of room for error. There have been several times where I have literally just prayed because I wasn’t sure how certain things were going to turn out, but everything has a way of coming together last minute, whether it be a last-minute show tape or needed to record some vocals last minute. If you know me, then you know I’m always recording in my hotel rooms. I like working in comfortable environments and sometimes studios turn into social gathers on the weekends. There’s an aspect of vulnerability in creating music and I don’t like letting too many people in on that process because I feel like the energy you create is so raw and pure. I like to feel like I can make mistakes and be myself without people judging me. Everything in this field is a risk, sharing your art with the world is a risk, letting people see you when your vulnerable is a risk, and allowing yourself to be subjected to other people’s criticisms and ideas of who they think you are is also a risk. As a virgo, I’m naturally a perfectionist which is a great thig and a bad thing. I’m really hard on myself, so sometimes I’ll overthink things to the point where I won’t even want to drop certain songs or use certain content because of my own criticisms let alone letting others in as well.
Contact Info:
- Email: fmiller012@gmail.com
- Website: linktr.ee/heyfaithmiller
- Instagram: @heyfaithmiller
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100054843866767
- Twitter: @heyfaithmiller
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCFNYN6AfbYvA5VtKWnDaRBQ
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/22gafUFgO73uON5I9FOMNIsi=gcVYnXT29m8OuXu_alnqg
Image Credits
Marcia Williams
John Miller
Elisha Miller
Rabbi Ben
Oliver Mueller
