2.23.18
A year ago, Bea Miller embarked on her most ambitious and personal journey yet, and invited fans to accompany her every step of the way. With the release of chapter one: blue, (sadness) the precocious singer/songwriterlaunched a series of new recordings tracing her creative and emotional progress in vivid color, literally and figuratively.
Chapter two: red(redemption) and chapter three: yellow(self-discovery)followed, as Miller strove to “constantly be in communication with the people who listen to my music,” as she explained at the outset. That quest has now come full circle with her second album, aurora. Arriving just weeks after her 19th birthday, it features all the material on red, blue and yellow, plus five new tracks, charting Miller’s remarkableevolution from a talented teenager into a mature and confident artist and woman.
The album’s title refers to the goddess of the dawn, who renews herself every morning, spreading flowers (a prominent image in the album art). For Miller, the figure of Aurora signifies women’s empowerment – a timely topic that has special resonance for Miller right now – and the album represents the new beginning her process has allowed. (The word aurora also refers to southern lights and their great displays of shifting colors, tying into the coding of Miller’s chapters.)
“I’ve gone through significant changes,” says Miller. “A lot of that has to do with my age, but it’s also been a matter of writing and expressing so much, and being able to share that with other people. Releasing these songs the way I did, I could really see my own growth. I have a time capsule now, of what was happening in my life and in my head.”
Aurora’s first single, the driving, defiant “motherLove,” was crafted with one of Miller’s “favorite producers of all time,” Warren “Oak” Felder, and Sizzy Rocket. “Oak and I had worked together while we were doing chapter one and early on chapter two, and the last few songs we’d written were pretty negative. This time I was feeling more secure in myself.”
That new sense of self-assurance and openness led to a frank conversation with Sizzy Rocket, “about guys in our past and what exactly made them make us feel so miserable. One of the things we talked about – this may sound crude, but I’m sure a lot of women can relate: when a guy will say, ‘Oh, I’m going to do so many great things for you tonight; I’m going to rock your world.’ And then they’re like, ‘Was that great for you?’ And you feel like, ‘No, I’d rather be alone.’ It’s coming from a powerless stance, but then taking control and rolling your eyes at him.”
That description plainly does not apply to the pining, soulful “crash & burn,” written for Miller’s current boyfriend, who had earlier inspired “Warmer,” a song on chapter two. At that time, the two were just friends, but starting to take closer notice of each other. “For so long, you can put it in your head that you haven’t received the love and consideration you want because you just weren’t meant for it,” Miller notes. “But now I’m having this amazing experience. Every day I wake up in shock that someone who really cares about me is showing that in a positive way.”
Reaching that “destination,” as Miller, puts it, was not without challenges – which she addresses with typical directness on a crackling new tune called “bored.” “Before this guy was my boyfriend, there was a period when neither of us wanted to take the next step,”Miller explains. “We were both in fear that we wouldn’t reciprocate each other’s feelings.” She tapped her close friend and frequent writing collaborator, Steph Jones, and Mike Sabath, “a 19-year-old producer who’s going to be the biggest thing, and he’s the nicest person. We were having such a good time writing together, but in the song I’m complaining how bored I was with this situation in my life that was good but repetitive.”
Miller credits the song with helping the eventual romance blossom. “Sometimes someone needs to push you into the future,” she says. “I could hear Steph’s voice in my head saying, ‘Go for it.’ You realize that songs can inspire your life as much as life inspires your songs.”
Ambivalence also informed “outside,” written with the rising artist Lostboycrow and his longtime producer, Dylan Bauld. “I was feeling unmotivated in my work and life,” Miller says in describing the song, which segues from sinuous, chilly verses to an impassioned chorus. “For the first time in my life, going to the studio began to feel like a chore. I think we all can fall into that, so I started reaching out to other artists, asking, how do I re-inspire myself? One was this incredibly talented and amazing guy, Lostboycrow, and Dylan, who’s also amazing. I told them how I felt and they were like, ‘Yeah, we can relate to that.’ And we had so much fun writing about things that seemed so mediocre, and it led to writing what turned out to be one of my favorite songs here.”
Aurora also includes one song contributed by outside writers,the teasing, languorous “girlfriend,” which “feels like something I could have written myself, but someone else did it better,” Miller quips. “The melody is really cool, but I also love that the lyrics switch traditional roles. Usually you hear men saying, ‘I’m just in this for fun,’ but in this case that’s the female perspective. There was a point in time, recently, where I felt like that.”
For Miller, documenting these changes and tracing life’s ups and downs proved both empowering and poignant. “I got the mix for ‘motherLove’ back a week after we’d written it, and I sat in the car with my boyfriend and started crying,” she recalls. “That had only happened to me one time before. I could listen to songs like that, and ‘crash & burn,’ and feel so good, because I saw the growth not only in my music but in myself, as a person. And that’s been incredibly inspiring.”
ABOUT BEA MILLER
Jersey born singer and songwriterBea Millersigned toHollywood Recordsin 2013 after she wowed the world as afinalist onThe X Factor. Her first albumNot An Apology,debuted #7on theBillboard200 and#1oniTunes Pop chart in 2015,hit singles and accolades from Rolling Stone to The New York Times soon followed. Millershowcased heredgy, anthemic popwith hits such as“Young Blood”and theempowering, gold-selling ”Fire N Gold.”Tours withFifth Harmony, Demi Lovatoand an opening spot along withDNCEonSelena Gomez’s2016 Revival tour showed audiences a live presence that matched theurgency and indomitabilityofMiller’svoice.
In 2017Millercreated her dream project, an anthology of EP releases featuring themes tied to a different primary color:chapter one: blueevoked sadness;chapter two: red,represented redemption;chapter three: yellow,explored the journey of self-discovery. Each release represented a chapter of her life over the last year and the build-up to the final chapter, aurora, the full-length sophomore album due out February 2018. Bea is passionate about creating music that resonates with her fans. “If you want to stay relevant in other people’s lives, you should always be bringing them along on your journey,” she says.
022018
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