Marie Miller

Like her or hate her, Taylor Swift is one of the biggest stars in the music industry these days. She has an armful of Grammys, incredibly successful tours, and she's one of the only people who can really sell albums -- more than her pop contemporaries like Lady Gaga, Rihanna or even Beyonce.

While Ms. Swift may be very talented, sometimes you just need something new. If you've spun your copy of Red an embarrassing number of times and if you're tired of dancing alone in your room to "You Belong With Me," don't fret: There are other singers out there who can help quench your appetite... that is, until another Swift album hits stores.

Marie Miller is an up-and-comer who will hit all the right spots for you if you're looking for more female-fronted country pop that's too catchy to ignore. Miller combines folk, bluegrass, as well as country and pop to create high quality, relatable and incredibly enjoyable music that anyone could get behind.

Miller grew up in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia, where she began singing at the age of 7. She is the third of 10 children, and at the age of 12 she joined her family band, playing festivals and trading off lead and harmony vocals in duets with her sister. Their parents backed them up on guitar and upright bass, as Marie played mandolin, guitar, and eventually bouzouki. Her family band focused largely on playing bluegrass, a genre that's about both musicianship and tradition.

"I fell in love with traditional folk music and grabbed some of that songwriting style. But then I love pop music, too, like the music of Stevie Wonder, Michelle Branch, John Mayer and The Eagles. So my music became my own folk-pop concoction, trying to tie all that in together," Miller said of her jumbling of genres to create one that appeals to a wide audience.

Miller's You Are Not Alone EP was released last year on Curb Records, and since then several of her songs have been making waves. The first single from the EP, "You're Not Alone" was supported by CMT and VH1, and was downloaded over 100,000 times on Amazon.com. Second single "6'2" was featured on ABC's Dancing With The Stars, and it's been receiving some great radio play.

Basically, if you like any of the following things: country, pop, folk, bluegrass, women in music, talent, a bright future, or just plain good music, Marie Miller is someone you should check out. If Taylor Swift isn't careful, Marie might just snatch that crown right off her head (though she seems too nice to actually do that). - The Huffington Post

Marie Miller has a hit on her hands with the recently released single 6’2”, which was featured in Dancing with the Stars. “It was so cool to hear it—to know that so many people were hearing this song for the first time,” she told uInterview exclusively. Miller admits that the single is a fun song that doesn’t take itself seriously. “Some fans are laughing with me, some girls are crying because they'€™re like, '€œI'€™m waiting for a guy, I want to meet him and I have the perfect guy in mind.' So there’s been a lot of social media reactions,” Miller told uInterview, “which I’m told it’s good thing and it’s been fun to see all the different Facebook stuff and tweets about the song.”

Q: What is your songwriting process? - Uinterview
A: I think some people are really good songwriters and they can just write everyday. They wake up and they write a song. I am not like that. For me, it has to be something that’s really inspiring, something that’s really has reached me in some way. With the new song that’s out, 6’2'', it’ because I’m a jokester and I wrote it kind of teasing girls about being too picky about the guys that they want to date and when they’ll meet him.

Q: Was there a specific person who inspired you to write the song? - Uinterview
A: No. I mean I’m just really teasing my friends about what they want. And it’s really funny because at the time I didn’t know how tall or short 6’2” was, but now I creepishly know, everywhere I walk I see a guy, and I’ll say, “I bet that guy is 6’2.” And I figured out that really is a good height, but at the time it wasn’t for anyone else, for just any 6’2” male, which I just heard is like 3.9% of America or something.

Q: What has the reaction ben like to 6’2”? - Uinterview
A: To be honest, it'€™s not my favorite song. I think it'€™s kind of silly and it'€™s just been so cute because of the totally different reactions. Some fans are laughing with me, some girls are crying because they'€™re like, '€œI'€™m waiting for a guy, I want to meet him and I have the perfect guy in mind.' So there's been a lot of social media reactions, which I'€™m told it'€™s good thing, and it'€™s been fun to see all the different Facebook stuff and tweets about the song.

Q: What was it like having your song on ‘Dancing with the Stars?’ - Uinterview
A: I didn’t know that 6’2'' would be on Dancing with the Stars until Friday, before the Monday that the show was going to play it. It was amazing, it was so cool to hear it—to know that so many people were hearing this song for the first time. My favorite part was being with my family, all of us are watching it, and the screaming and the yelling when it came on was really exciting.

Q: Is there a music video out for the song? - Uinterview
A: There’s a lyric video that’s out and there is a music video that’s coming out very soon. It was really fun to shoot. I don’t know the exact date, but it’s coming out soon.

Q: How did you start songwriting? - Uinterview
A: I am a huge reader. I love to read books, literature, philosophy. and the first song I wrote was inspired by a poem in Lord of the Rings. I’m a Lord of the Rings nerd, I think I am in that I meet real ones, but I don’t speak Elvish, sorry! I loved literature growing up and so I wrote a melody to poem that Tolkien had written, and I thought, “Oh, this is so great, I need to do this more.” So I started writing my own lyrics. It’s not something that ‘m necessarily good at if I don’t have an inspiration, but once I find something that I think is funny, cool, interesting, or sad—enough to write a song about it. It’s kind of like a journal entry for me, about something that happens in my life where I feel like it has to be written down. Instead of writing a journal or diary entry I write a song about it. - UInterview

Marie Miller is in the midst of an exhilarating year! Her widely admired debut EP You’re Not Alone was released on Curb Records, her single “6’2’’” was featured in “Dancing With The Stars,” and she has opened for artists ranging from The Backstreet Boys to Sarah Evans. But most importantly, her fans adore her. With customer reviews on iTunes such as “Love the songs and your voice” and “I pray that she is able to reach whatever height in music that God wishes of her!” it is clear that this artist has that special spark that connects with and ignites true passion in her fans.

In a recent conversation with AXS.com, Marie stated, “A lot of writers write every single day. They have the discipline to sit down and write... even when they are not inspired. But for me, each song is totally from something that inspired me. It could just be a fleeting moment, but as soon as I’m inspired I have to write it down.”

And maybe it’s that sizzle of something that struck her so hard, that honesty of the moment that her fans recognize and embrace. Speaking of fleeting moments, Miller offered the story behind the poppiest track on her debut.

“It’s funny, ‘Fall Alone’ was written as a slow song,” the artist revealed. “It was kind of more like a Colbie Caillat sweet, sad song. However, when I told my producer the story behind the inspiration of ‘Fall Alone,’ Paul [Maybury] asked, ‘How long did you know this guy? It sounds pretty bad.’ And I was like, ‘Well, one time we had a conversation for about 20 minutes and we found out that we both liked cottage cheese.’ Paul just could not believe that I was writing a song like that and singing so passionately if I barely knew this guy! So, he thought it would be kind of funny and fun to totally change it around. He wanted to keep the song, but make it fast and make it fun so the whole thing could kind of be funny in a way that I would write a song that depressing about a guy whom I had only talked to for 20 minutes.”

And the song works. It is upbeat and has the strongest pop feel of all the tracks on her EP, but it is driven by that passion and honesty that resonates with her fans. It contains a truth like is found in her single “6’2”.” In that joy-inducing, tongue-in-cheek song, the singer professes that the details aren’t important as long as it’s true love. Then she launches into a long, detailed list of criteria she prefers in a guy.

“Romance is always going to be a very easy thing to write about because you’re feeling it, so you want to say it,” Marie noted. “But I like to write about friendships and other relationships and things I’ve read about in books, too. That can actually be something that’s harder to do, but it is something I’m more proud of when I’m finished.”

Miller’s soft, feathered voice gently trails above her music with a captivating grace. Her delicate sincerity reveals the inspired passion that forged each of her tunes. Her true artistry lies in depicting the soul of a moment, then bringing it to life with her flawless vocal beauty and gentle charisma.

For more information on Marie Miller, visit her website, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter. - AXS