Dazed and Confused to TikTok Stardom: Jake Miller
Posted on September 5, 2025
Joey Chou
Florida-born pop-rap artist Jake Miller is riding a new wave of global attention, from viral TikTok moments to sold-out tours in China. As long-time fans of his since his career started 15 years ago, we connected with Jake to talk about his reignited career, his family plans, and the release of his 2025 album Balance.
A lot happened in the last couple of years. Can you give us a recap?
Yeah, my- my whole career took a turn about three years ago after my song “Rumors” just exploded in China. You know, I started making music in 2011 and for the last 10 years I’ve just been touring America and kind of doing the same cities in America over and over again. And then we found out that my song “Rumors” and a couple other songs like “Ross and Rachel” and “Parties” are blowing up in China. So over the last two or three years, we’ve been there eight or nine times and the shows keep getting bigger and bigger and the festivals are amazing. And this upcoming tour, I think it’s like six or seven shows in China. They’ll all be sold out by the time I get there. So it’s just so cool and just so unexpected. And in terms of my personal life, I got married last year. We bought our first house. We’re trying to start a family now, so just a lot of exciting things happening in my life right now for sure.
What are some of the pinch-me moments you’ve experienced lately?
There’s been a couple over the years, for sure. I mean, every time we do a festival in China, we’re always like, “I wonder if it’s gonna be big.” And then we get there and it’s like 40,000 people, and just massive crowds. So every time we get to perform in front of that big of a crowd, it’s definitely a pinch-me moment. I also have won a couple awards in the last couple years. So being able to go to China, go to an award show, perform at the award show and win an award. that was definitely a pinch-me moment. So I’m just lucky that after all this time, I’m still getting to experience those moments.
Have you picked up any Mandarin Chinese phrases along the way?
I have learned, you know, little words here and there. I’m also trying to cover a couple of Chinese songs, but it’s definitely not something I can do on the fly. It’s very, very challenging. But I definitely know “wo shi yi ming ge shou” which means “I am a singer.” I know how to say “wo ai ni” which is “I love you.” “Wo shi” Jake Miller. (I am Jake Miller) So these are the basic phrases that me and my bandmates like to say a million times when we’re in China.
Are there other songs of yours that you wish would go viral?
One of my favorite songs that I’ve made over the years that I feel like never really got the proper recognition, so to speak, would be a song called “Saved Me.” I also have a song called “Lucky Me,” which is a wedding song that I feel like could do great in like the whole wedding space. And then maybe “Mini You” in terms of the whole baby social media world. It’s basically a song that I wrote for my wife just right when we decided that we’re ready to try to have kids. And it’s just about how I can’t wait to see the mini version of you running around the house, kicking the soccer ball and just doing all the things that she did as a kid. Those are probably the three that I hope blow up one day. And it’s not out of the cards because I’ve made all those songs within the last couple of years. And as everything with “Rumors” has really just taught me is to be patient. If a song doesn’t blow up immediately, just to keep going because maybe one day it’ll have another moment.
“Mini You” is a great song. It hasn’t been easy making a baby. Are you comfortable talking your experiences?
It’s been a crazy journey, for sure. But we have each other and we’re a great team. So no matter what life throws at us, we’ll be able to tackle it. But whenever that day comes, we are extremely ready and excited. And all of our friends are having kids right now so we’re getting the tutorials and, we’re just ready for it to happen to us, and we know it will soon.
Did you drop “Balance” the same day Justin Bieber released his album?
It was the same day. Yeah. I wouldn’t have done that if I could go back and change the date. But I’m a big Justin Bieber fan so I thought it was kinda funny. We were on a flight to China on the night that the album dropped and I see, “Surprise album from Justin Bieber.” It’s okay. I don’t really think it took away any listens at the end of the day. I think my fans are going to listen to me no matter what.
NERIAH is your opener for this tour. Why did you choose her?
These days, I feel like most artists really bring an opener who they’re not only really good friends with and they get along with, but also just people that they believe in. And I think NERIAH is just an amazing artist. She helped me write a lot of my own music that she’s not even featured on, like “Mini You” she helped me write. I just wanted to bring her on just because not only do I know she’s going to put on a great show, but almost to say thank you a little bit for helping me so much on six or seven of the songs on this album, including “Mini You”, “Love You Harder”, “Rock Bottom”, “Only Always”. I’m probably forgetting a couple, but she’s just been great so I wanted to bring her out on the road.
As you and I are both getting older, are there any “old man hobbies” you’ve picked up over the years?
Oh, some old man hobbies… Let’s see. I love going outside and watering the plants, just taking the hose every morning and watering my ficuses. Just a lot of stuff around the house, honestly, maintaining the yard work and all that stuff. There’s definitely been a lot of fun, quote unquote, “old man hobbies,” for sure. I’m also doing a lot of stretching now because my lower back is not amazing. So definitely feeling a lot of effects of getting a little older. But other than that, mostly just making music. I think that kind of reflects in the music as well, the older you get.
