Today we’d like to introduce you to Bella Miller.
Hi Bella, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My story? It’s crazy to look back and see how little me already knew who she was. The story was just unfolding and still is.
She was an anxious kid – asking deep questions about the meaning of life, purpose, and trying to figure out who she was. She was paralyzed by the idea of moving in the wrong direction and yet had this inkling to try many different things. This looked like learning to surf even though she never caught a wave after two years of going every week but she just loved it. This looked like signing herself up for the fifth grade talent show for a solo performance of “Firework” even though she was shaking in front of her school – but she just loved it. The anxiety, the fear, the doubts never stopped this little girl. She knew what she wanted to try. She loved being curious. I have heard a version of this many times “Bella, why can’t you stick to one thing?” My response: “Why would I?”
Singing and songwriting was something I always went back to when I felt the weight of being “just a kid”, felt the weight of wanting to know what to do next, and wrestling with the complicated emotions I felt from a young age. It was also something that did not need to be loud. Something that was never a clear career path I wanted to take. I wrote songs about my battles with spirituality, my internal struggle of worthiness, and sometimes a birthday song for my family. There was no pressure and no weight.
A constant in my life was creativity. I think we are all creative and most people may be in denial. My truest form was singing and writing. You can never force a kid for too long to stick with something they don’t like but when I learned to play guitar at age 7, I was obsessed. I won’t lie and say I am this crazy musician but it became my vessel. My vessel of expression. The typical artist story of true love at first sight.
Time passed that summer and my family wanted to take a trip to Nashville, Tennessee to visit some family friends. I had no interest. Always been a beach person through and through. Long story short, Nashville changed everything for me. All I could tell you was there was a feeling. Like “this is where I am supposed to be.”
Remember how I said I committed to Florida? Well…yeah. I felt STUCK. Trying to stay committed to what I had chosen…last minute. Another long story short, I moved to Florida and within two weeks, I moved back home because I knew I was not supposed to be there, immediately applied to Belmont University and was in Nashville by January. This was SO me. Everyone looked at me like I made such rash decisions but I truly have always been led by my intuition. I learned to trust it by making that decision. Because that decision changed everything.
And now I have my first project coming out in October starting with my first single, “Always Been Mine”. About how I have always known who I am. I quit listening to the voices telling me otherwise. Telling the story I wanted people to know. And not even for me, but to be a mirror for someone reading. I only know that that little girl would do it even when she was scared. Now, this story really is not about music. It is about the beauty of the unknown. The beauty of curiosity. The beauty of adventure. The beauty of knowing myself and experiencing life through Bella’s lens. If I only get to be Bella Miller once, why don’t I really be her?
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
As I grew, so did the anxiety, the fear, and doubts. As I grew, the passion and drive for more remained and kept me grounded. It taught me that these feelings of pressure were not me and rather an underlying feeling of needing to be something else. To be somebody else. As if I was no one. After much conviction and the constant attempt to ignore my gut, I was pulled right back. Whether it was my own choice or the path shifting direction, I learned quickly I know more than I think and what I thought I did know about my path, I was so wrong.
When I was finishing high school, I was in shock and denial of needing to make a choice for my next step. A choice that I knew would change the trajectory of my life and one that only had one right answer. As my anxiety rose to the surface, so did my awareness of the amount of unknown there really is. You can know someone your whole life, but the second you step out of that environment, you are left with the questions of who you are, your story, your purpose. You are no longer attached to the things you do, the people you are surrounded by, your family, your struggles. It is only you and the limitless possibilities. Some may say I was hopeful, but I was overwhelmed with this choice. What if I make the wrong decision? What if I regret what I do? What if I look back at 80 years old and I am disappointed in where my life went? Not so hopeful. This pressure led me to wait until the last minute and choose a school that I did have an interest in; the University of Tampa. I am from Orange County, California and I have always been connected to the ocean and also obsessed with the unknown (the dichotomy…) so I chose that school. Last minute.
I actually cried when I committed. I felt pressured and lost. Unsure if that is what I really wanted.
I went throughout my college years “finding myself” and ended right where I began. A guitar in hand and the 7th notebook of that year filled with random word vomit of lyrics. I never wanted to pursue music as a career. It was too precious to feel ruined by making it a job and I was so terrified that I would care too much and I would lose myself in it all. And my LAST long story short, I was wrong. I finished school not doing anything regarding the pursuit of music. I moved back home. And what happened? I felt this gut feeling to move back. And I did. Another gut feeling came. “You need to do music. You need to share this with people. This will change the world for you and for others.” And this is where you have found me – in the unfolding. No idea what is next. No idea what this means. But only knowing what I need to do next.
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 an artist and songwriter, and I write songs about becoming. Through my storytelling, my music explores what it means to let go, grow, and trust the next season before it’s fully visible. My music isn’t about having all the answers – it’s about learning to trust while living the questions.
My first project, The Unfolding, came from a season of feeling lost, hopeful, excited, and unsure all at once. I simply wanted to write, sing, and express what I was feeling, and it became a way to make all the confusion, doubts, and mystery of that season tangible. Each song in this project was written in the order I am releasing it…which was intentional in wanting the listener to see my progression through this season of seeing how it unfolds. And no…I did not plan the title or the last song being the unfolding. It came together that way naturally.
What sets me apart is that my music isn’t trying to preach or provide answers. I write from the middle of the process, with curiosity instead of certainty. The niche isn’t the genre. It’s the pace. In a culture of endless scrolling and constant noise, I want my music to encourage people to slow down, pause, reflect, and breathe. I’m most proud of creating something that makes people feel heard in the doubts and confusion of being young and reminds them that they’re not crazy – they’re human. Faith is the foundation, not the headline, and ultimately, I want my music to remind people to trust the unfolding.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters most to me is authenticity. No sugar coating. Not trying to make something fit just for the sake of making it fit.
This matters most to me because I think as humans we get stuck in ideas, concepts, and boxes more than we expand, create, and experience. I am constantly burning the pages of what I once thought and learning new ways to live and experience Bella Miller at the fullest with no apologies. I was not always good at this which is why I think I appreciate and highly respect those who are unapologetically themselves.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bellamiller.mp3/
