20-year-old Hip-Hop/Pop artist Jake Miller is currently a University of Miami student who has gained a huge social media following and media attention in the last couple years. His music career really kicked off when in 2011, he won the Samsung and T-Mobile USA national Kick It With The Band talent competition. His prize was a $35,000 for his music career as well as a video with YouTube sensation Keenan Cahill. He also signed a recording contract with independent label E1 music early this year. To kick off his 43 date Us Against Them Tour, he recently released his debut album Us Against The World. The project features 11 quality tracks that primarily consist of pop beats with him mixing his talented abilities of singing and rapping.
“A Million Lives” is a hit single from the album that was originally featured as a single from his Road Less Traveled EP. The song is about his fans getting through tough times by listening to his music. The music video for the song has garnered over 3 million views on YouTube. The song opens with the lines: “The other day I got an email, I almost didn’t read it/But something caught my eye right before I could delete it/It was bold and underlined, ‘Please Read’ was the title/Followed by ‘Jake you are my idol.” He was almost going to delete it until he saw that it was from a fan and when he read he found how inspired the fan was by his music. The whole song recites different stories about kids going through tough life situations such as having cancer, being bullied in school, and losing a loved one and how they all got through it by listening to his music and going to his shows.
The lead single for the album, which is also the opening track “Collide”, is an upbeat house-influenced song. “Collide” is a love song about a guy and a girl collide and the purpose of the song is to get people to come together and be happy. This is represented in the music video where him and a girl fall in love in a beach and people who see what’s going on start to get closer to their loved ones or people around them. My favorite track on the album is “Hollywood.” In this song he talks about how well things are going for him in his life right now. “Why you lookin’ mad bro/Prolly cause these girls followin’ me/Like a shadow/we takin over the game/just call me ‘Super Smash Bro,” he raps.
In all, the album is well put together and can resonate well amongst a younger audience. He has uplifting songs, love songs, feel good songs and songs that you can dance and sing along to. Turning 21 this year, he has great potential to do some big things in the music industry with his versatility.