As a self-taught, self-promoted singer-songwriter from Ohio, Jen Miller's music captures the simplicity of folk music with the soul of a modern day MoTown singer. She writes true and incredibly personal generation-crossing lyrics. What truly sets Jen apart is not only her powerful, yet subtle quirky vocals--mastering the quirk of Regina Spektor with the power of Sara Bareilles--but also her ability to connect with the crowd through humor and as a normal, living/breathing human being. It
Read MoreJen Miller
- folk
- pop
- indie
As a self-taught, self-promoted singer-songwriter from Ohio, Jen Miller's music captures the simplicity of folk music with the soul of a modern day MoTown singer. She writes true and incredibly personal generation-crossing lyrics. What truly sets Jen apart is not only her powerful, yet subtle quirky vocals--mastering the quirk of Regina Spektor with the power of Sara Bareilles--but also her ability to connect with the crowd through humor and as a normal, living/breathing human being. It wouldn't be an unusual sight to see Jen prowling the crowd after a show making dinosaur noises or getting overly excited about free food. Playing both original songs and covers that cross genres, Jen's eclectic sound, focus on the beauty of simplicity and avoidance of overdone and phony "cover-band" covers, Miller's music and personality has the ability to cross genres from folk to pop to soul and R&B. Whatever song or venue Jen is playing, she is guaranteed to move an audience to tears and make them laugh in the same evening.
Like many other artists of her generation, 21-year old singer-songwriter Jen Miller sparked her musical career through the Internet, fostering a following of 10,000 through YouTube. Now, racking nearly 1,000,000 views on her original and cover songs, she is finally taking to the road to make a bigger mark on the United States.
One of the thing that sets Jen Miller apart is her history. She grew up in Columbus, Ohio, playing competitive travel soccer and committed to play Division I soccer her junior year of high school. Although Jen constantly surrounded herself with music, she claims to have accidentally stumbled upon her passion for music at the age of 17. After signing to play Division I soccer, she suffered two devastating knee injuries within a year, leaving her without a scholarship, and with her passion for soccer dampered. Out of desperation to find something new to put her time and effort into, Jen turned to her first ukulele, whom she calls "Ike", and began writing and creating music in her bedroom and posting it on the Internet to, "see if any one liked it…or me… or something", said Miller. Her first cover video of "Kiss Me" by Six Pence None The Richer blew up overnight, and she instantly knew she was onto something. All of her cover videos are done in one-take. "I don't care if one of my cats starts licking my face mid-video. I like representing myself as what I truly am on the internet--flaws and all. One take," said Miller in an interview for The Torch (Springfield, Ohio).
After mastering the soprano ukulele, Jen picked up a baritone ukulele, guitar and piano too. Playing both original songs and covers that cross genres, Jen's electic sound, focus on the beauty of simplicity and avoidance of overdone and phony "cover-band" covers, Miller's music and personality has the ability to cross genres from folk to pop to soul and R&B. Drawing influences from Fleetwood Mac, Regina Spektor, Coldplay, Snow Patrol, to the soulful tunes of MoTown.
After playing nearly every open-mic in the greater Columbus and Dayton, Ohio areas and opening for headlining "GirlTalk" at WittFest in Springfield, Ohio, Miller continues molding her skills, picking up every instrument she can get her hands on and collabing with local talents in Columbus and Dayton, Ohio. In late 2011, Jen won the Perez Hilton Cover Contest, launching her to Internet stardom overnight. In January 2012, she created a Kickstarter project and successfully funded her debut EP through her fans, which was released May 1st, 2012. This EP titled, "Forget the Dirty Hearts" debuted at #16 on the iTunes Singer-Songwriter chart. Miller spent the summer of 2012 gigging and touring, sharing the stage with some notable bands, including Mayday Parade, Paleface, Shivering Timbers, He's my Brother, She's my sister, and Shovels & Rope. She is now booking a summer tour for 2014.