More Than Just Sound

A few months ago my daughter was listening to her music in the kitchen. She kept playing one song over and over again. It was not a song I’d heard on the radio so I asked her about it. She explained it was this singer named Jake Miller who she found on YouTube and whose songs were “so awesome and Mom, you just have to listen to the words.” And so I did. The song was “A Million Lives” and turns out, I then listened to it over and over again.

I looked him up, which wasn’t hard because, good grief, does this kid know how to use social media. Now I feel compelled to tell you about this young man.

He was 20 at the time, and at the time, young artists/musicians were making headlines for not so great things…urinating in trash cans, twerking on TV for all the world to see…you get the drift. But in the middle of all that is Jake Miller, rapping words of hope and encouragement to teens (well, anyone of any age for that matter) dealing with bullying, peer pressure, suicide notions, losing a loved one.  And he is bringing positivity to their world via a means that they can understand and relate to.

Normally, this type of music would make a headache hip-hop around in my skull. But not this stuff. I listen, I learn a little more about the world my kids are growing up in, and sometimes, like when he sings about just “kickin on the couch” I laugh and have a bit of fun. I’m waaaaay past relating, but my kids do and we can talk about it. I wish his music was on the radio here. It is so unlike most songs played on the radio today, songs that make me frantically try to change the station when the kids are in the car because I don’t want them listening to it.

 Ten months ago, Jake Miller remembers performing in Minneapolis to a crowd of 75 or so people. This past weekend, he performed to a sold-out crowd of nearly a thousand at The Varsity Theater in Minneapolis. Yes, among those in the sold out crowd were my two daughters and I. Before the show we got a chance to talk to Jake…well, I talked, they swooned.

I asked Jake if it was intentional, if he all along planned to send these messages through his music. Did he know it would have such an impact?

Jake Miller responds, “ I have all these followers and fans and I feel like if you have the power to say something to change someone’s life or the power to help someone, then you should do it.” He goes on to say “Music without a message is just sound.”

 By all accounts, Jake is a hard working 21-year old but his fans are hard working as well. Particularly through social media, which Jake credits with much of his young success.

Jake says, “ Yeah, I mean, I started on YouTube and started getting a following there. And that’s just how it all started. Now I try to meet as many fans as possible.  Even though they’ve increased in number I still try to meet as many of them as I can at each show. That connection with the fans has to be there and it always will be. I have a dream and they are making it come true.”

He is now in the midst of a 43-city tour across the country to support the recent release of his first full length CD, “Us Against Them.”

As a mom of four, I told Jake I appreciated his music. He shyly replied “Thank you” and said the greatest compliments he gets are from parents.

I would suggest listening to  "A Millions Lives," "Like Me" is super sweet, and "Steven" will likely make you cry. 

Now, are all of his songs delivering some sort of positive social message to young people? Well, no, some of his songs are just meant to be fun. He is after all a 21-year-old artist. Rapping about what it takes to live The Good Life.