Bea Miller is Proving a Meaningful Point with 'That Bitch'

Bea Miller is nothing if not honest. The singer released her debut EP, Young Blood, in 2014 at the age of 15, and she has been making waves ever since. Her latest (self-released!) single, “That Bitch,” marks the start of Miller’s new era, one in which she’s fearlessly truthful and makes no apologies for it.

You may not immediately know her name, but you definitely know her voice. Miller was featured on NOTD’s hit, “I Wanna Know,” which hit 189 million global streams. She’s worked with a variety of artists, including Snakehips (“NEVER GONNA LIKE YOU”), Jessie Reyez (“FEELS LIKE HOME”), and Jeremy Zucker (“comethru”).

With her Gen-Z perspective, unique look, and the soft power of her voice, Miller has been serving a Billie Eilish-esque vibe since before Billie Eilish was famous. Miller talked to L’Officiel USA about co-directing music videos, Frank Ocean, and feeling ignored as a woman.

How did you first get started in music?

I never thought that I could be a singer. I would listen to people like Christina Aguilera and Demi Lovato and I would be like, "Well, I don't have the range of those people so that probably means I can't sing." So I never really expected to do that with my life, but I really like it. 

When I was 12, both of my parents lost their jobs. We didn't have any money, we were going to lose our house; it just seemed pretty hopeless at that time. I was moping about it for a while and then I saw that there was a show called The X Factor and that they allegedly had a $5 million prize for the winner. Because I was like 12, 13, I believed that was actually real. I thought maybe I could go on this show, win the prize, pay my parents' bills and then go back to school and continue to live my life. I auditioned and actually made a lot farther than I thought I would, and that showed me that maybe I could be a singer. I didn't win. My vocal cord hemorrhaged and I had to go home. After that, I got signed to a record deal and I've been making music ever since. 

What is your creative process? 

Before I get on stage, I like to ignore the fact that I'm doing anything at all. I go into everything ignoring the fact that like I'm about to do what I'm attempting to do. It's easier for me to walk through life and think that everything is very normal, and then just walk into the moment and be like, "Oh, now I'm doing this thing that isn't as normal in comparison to other people's lives and I'm just gonna go do it." It comes naturally that way. If I psych myself out before I get on stage, it's not good. If I'm sitting there thinking, "Okay, I'm about to go on stage and do this," then I get stressed out. If I just kind of exist and then walk out there in the moment, it's easier for me. It makes me feel more sane. 

Talk to me about your latest single, “That Bitch.”

I feel like I'm good at what I do and I feel like I know what I'm talking about. But I've had a lot of experiences, usually in rooms full of predominantly men where I voice my opinion on something, my educated opinion, and I'm ignored or looked over, and I feel like it's because I'm a woman. I know it happens, I see it happen all the time to my friends. I feel like as we grow up, society makes us feel like we're not allowed to have the same aspirations as men, like we’re not able to do the same things and if we do achieve those goals, it's not looked at the same way. A man in a powerful role is looked at as intelligent and dominant, smart and powerful. When a woman fills the same role, and if she asserts herself the same way, she's seen as a bitch. I see that all the time, in my own life, in TV and movies, in other people's lives. In this current climate, we're just made to feel like as women, we can't accomplish the same things as men and have the same effect. 

I also think that there are a lot of men who write songs that have similar lyrical content about their own gender. I feel like men talk about their dicks all the time in music and in life, and nobody cares. Nobody bats an eye if a man says "Suck my dick" in a song. Literally nobody cares. So I was like, why is it different for me to say, "Suck my clit?" It's definitely aggressive, but I just feel like it needed to be said. The song isn't just me wanting to curse a lot and be obnoxious, it's just trying to prove the point that we should be pushing those boundaries and asking these questions. We should be aggressive about the differences between men and women and how to remedy that problem. 

You’ve co-directed some of your music videos. Can you talk a little bit about that?

I've always wanted to be a director since I was a kid. I would write little plays and make my siblings act them out to my parents. I would make up and play games with my hands in the car, where each hand was a character. I was always obsessed with creating stories. I always wanted to be a director and when I was younger, I wanted to go to NYU and be a film student, before I thought I could be a singer. I've always thought it was really cool to be able to bring a story to life. 

Now in my career, I'm usually in front of the camera and sometimes I get anxiety. I don't always want to be the focus; it's overdone and kind of exhausting. I don't always want to be acting out somebody else's vision. Sometimes, I would rather be the person who has the vision and gets to have people help them bring it to life behind the camera. With these collab tracks, I thought it would be cool to make it a little different from my own personal music, and something that I've always wanted to do, which is to direct. I was lucky enough to have amazing directors who were open to hearing my ideas as a co-director and allowed me to call certain shots. I hope to do it again. 

If you could collaborate with anybody, who would it be?

My dream collaboration is also my biggest fear. I love Frank Ocean; he's my favorite artist of all time. I literally have his face tattooed on my arm. I would love to make music with him, but I also know a) that that's unrealistic and b) if it did ever happen, I probably wouldn't actually be able to successfully write anything because I would be so preoccupied with the fact that I'm in the same room as him. I don't think I would actually be able to create anything of value. I would love to do it, but I also don't know if I could do it. Does that make sense? 

Where do you get your inspiration from, both in fashion and music?

My style is inspired by comfort. I wish I could say that it was inspired by anything else; I see people in cute outfits and I like to fantasize about a world where I could be those people, but I just...can't. I'm always on the move and I have to be comfortable. I try to do relatively stylish comfort, but sometimes it just ends up being like hobo comfort, which is fine. 

I would say that my life inspires my music. It's really important to me to be truthful to my fans, to tell them what I'm really experiencing and what's genuine to me. When I was younger, I was always looking for somebody to tell me the truth—especially a young female in music—to really be honest with me about the good things and the bad things. I remember always feeling like when I was experiencing something sad, I was doing it alone. All the music I would hear was happy and about having a fun time at a party, or doing something with your boyfriend or friends. My experiences on a day-to-day basis are what inspire my music and I try to write about everything, even if it's embarrassing or hard for me to put into words. I want to be—for other people—what I was looking for when I was younger.