Bea Miller Bio
Beatrice Annika Miller, known professionally as Bea Miller, is an American singer and actress who first reached a national audience as a 13-year-old contestant on season two of The X Factor (US) in 2012. After finishing in ninth place, she signed with Syco Music and Hollywood Records and built a career in pop and pop rock, releasing the debut EP Young Blood in 2014 and her first full-length album Not an Apology in 2015. She later founded her own label, Gauche Records, in partnership with ADA, the distribution arm of Warner Music Group.
Across her career, Miller has released three studio albums, a series of themed EPs, and a string of collaborations that have charted internationally, including the top-twenty hit I Wanna Know with NOTD. She is also known for voicing a character in the virtual musical group K/DA tied to League of Legends and for her work as an anti-bullying ambassador.
Early Life and Background
Beatrice Annika Miller was born in Manhattan, New York, and raised in Maplewood, New Jersey. She is the daughter of two mothers and has two adopted younger siblings. Growing up in a household shaped by music and advocacy helped foster her early interest in performance and storytelling.
As a preteen, Miller attended COLAGE, a family camp in Provincetown, Massachusetts designed for children with one or more LGBT parents. She also experiences a form of synesthesia known as chromesthesia, which causes her to associate sounds with colors and has informed her approach to songwriting and visual presentation.
Miller began performing at a young age, and her earliest stage appearances date to 2008, when she was around nine years old. Those formative experiences in front of live audiences prepared her for the national spotlight she would step into a few years later.
Path to Music
Miller’s first major break came in 2012, when she auditioned for season two of The X Factor (US). Singing as a teenager, she advanced through the competition and finished in ninth place, narrowly eliminated in a final showdown against CeCe Frey. The exposure from the show introduced her to a wide audience and caught the attention of major-label executives.
On April 11, 2013, it was officially announced that she had signed with Syco Music and Hollywood Records, marking the first collaborative arrangement between those two labels. Shortly after the end of The X Factor, she began releasing music under the simpler name Bea Miller, the stage identity she has used ever since.
Bea Miller Career
Early Career (2008–2015)
Before her time on The X Factor, Miller had already begun performing publicly in 2008, building a foundation as a young vocalist. Her voice was featured on the audiobook for Jennifer Donnelly’s Deep Blue: Songspell in 2014, and she contributed the promotional track Open Your Eyes to the same project. That same year she uploaded the song Rich Kids to YouTube, a track that would later appear on her debut album.
In April 2014, Miller released her debut EP Young Blood, led by the title single. The EP peaked at number two on the iTunes pop albums chart and entered the Billboard 200 at number 64. She opened select dates of Demi Lovato’s Demi World Tour and was named Elvis Duran’s Artist of the Month, with a live performance on NBC’s Today show.
Breakthrough (2015–2018)
In 2015, Miller was named Radio Disney’s Next Big Thing and was chosen as a Vevo Lift artist. Her single Young Blood won the 2015 Radio Disney Music Award for Best Song to Rock Out to With Your BFF. Her debut album Not an Apology was released on July 24, 2015, and peaked at number seven on the Billboard 200. She also opened the summer leg of Fifth Harmony’s The Reflection Tour alongside Debby Ryan and Natalie La Rose.
In 2016, Miller was announced as an opening act for Selena Gomez’s Revival Tour, sharing stages with DNCE across North America that summer. She released the standalone single Yes Girl and contributed This Little Light of Mine to a 3 Musketeers advertising campaign. In 2017 she released the themed EPs Chapter One: Blue, Chapter Two: Red, and Chapter Three: Yellow, and performed Song Like You on The Late Late Show with James Corden, marking her first late-night television appearance.
Her second studio album Aurora arrived on February 23, 2018, collecting the three chapter EPs with five additional tracks. The album’s lead single S.L.U.T., which she performed on MTV’s TRL, was framed around the positive acronym Sweet Little Unforgettable Thing. That year she was also featured on NOTD’s I Wanna Know, a song that reached the top twenty in Australia, Belgium, and Norway and went on to earn Gold and Platinum certifications in multiple territories.
Notable Works and Milestones
Miller’s signature works include the debut EP Young Blood, the studio albums Not an Apology and Aurora, and the international single I Wanna Know with NOTD. Her career milestones include a Billboard 200 top-ten debut, a Radio Disney Music Award, opening slots on tours by Demi Lovato, Fifth Harmony, and Selena Gomez, and performances on The Late Late Show with James Corden and MTV’s TRL.
Bea Miller Award Nominations
Bea Miller has received recognition from Radio Disney and other outlets across her career, with nominations reflecting her early breakthrough as a young pop artist. The most notable nomination tied to her debut era accompanied her 2015 Radio Disney Music Award win for Best Song to Rock Out to With Your BFF, as she was also considered in additional categories at the ceremony. She has continued to earn attention for collaborations, including her vocal feature on NOTD’s I Wanna Know.
Bea Miller Awards Won
Bea Miller has collected a confirmed Radio Disney Music Award win for her single Young Blood in the category Best Song to Rock Out to With Your BFF at the 2015 Radio Disney Music Awards. That victory came during a breakout year in which she was also named Radio Disney’s Next Big Thing and chosen as a Vevo Lift artist. She has continued to earn industry recognition for subsequent releases and collaborations.
Bea Miller Family
Miller is the daughter of two mothers and has two adopted younger siblings. She was born in Manhattan, New York, and raised in Maplewood, New Jersey, in a family that supported her early interest in music and performance.
Personal Life
Miller is an ambassador for the anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label, a cause she has publicly supported for several years. In 2015, she began dating American singer Jacob Whitesides, and the couple broke up in May 2016 after one year together.