By Dave Parsons
She was born and raised in South Texas, and grew up to be Miss Texas, Miss United States 2012, MMA fighter, kickboxing commentator and a well-known podcaster, and is now taking on the country music scene. She believes life is about making your dreams a reality, and always knew deep down her greatest passion was to create and perform her own country music.
I sat down with Whitney Miller at Nashville Coffees on Music Valley Drive in Nashville recently to delve more into this incredible career that is moving along full speed.
Me: I was looking at your background. You went from Miss Texas to Miss United States. Is that something you did some, you were a kid?
Whitney Miller: No, it wasn’t actually. I did Miss Corpus Christi Teen, U.S.A. when I was 15 and ended up winning that and went on to Miss Texas Teen, U.S.A. and competed in that one for two years. But during that time, I realized pageants weren’t really my thing. I was kind of just being molded into what they thought a pageant winner would be. And I’m a little bit more outside of the box. And I said, I don’t want to do it anymore. I became a professional wake surfer and taught wakeboarding all through college.
And during that time, gosh, that was probably six or seven years later. I got a phone call that said, do you want to compete in Miss Texas? And I said, no. That doesn’t sound like something I want to do, but for some reason I had this…. like it’s so cliche to say…. but I had this voice that said if you don’t do it you’re going to regret it. So it was the next weekend and I had to borrow a dress and shoes, and put everything together as best I possibly could. I was like filling out my forms and we took pictures on an iPhone and edited them. We just did the best we could with the time that we had and went and won swimsuit and won the crown. I went to the United States pageant and did that, and won the whole thing. It was wild.
Me: Then you went into MMA?
Whitney Miller: I did. I mean like I said, I’m very outside of the box. I try different things and do different things and challenge myself. I did the whole pageant thing. At that time, it was 2012.and when you hand your crown over the idea is, now you get married and have babies. And I wasn’t ready for that at that point.
The guy who I was dating at the time owned a company that had a bunch of fighters that would come through and train. So I would train with them just because I’ve been in sports since I was four, you know? It was just fun to me, and I can stay in shape easily. And then I realized, wait a minute, this is kind of fun. What if I do this and create a platform around the beauty pageant that goes into fighting, which is so crazy.
So, yeah, it was a big challenge for me. But it was also a challenge for everybody else to kind of think outside of their own normalcy of what a pageant girl should be. Mixed martial arts makes you a bad ass as far as the world sees you, to do that sort of thing.
Me: So how did that progress into the music?
Whitney Miller: So I actually always wanted to do music since I was really, really young. But I had someone really close to me when I was 10 years old tell me I couldn’t sing. And I just internalized it…..I believed it…..and I never sang. I didn’t even want to write in my journal that I wanted to sing. It changed trajectory in my life because I used to sing all the time.
And then I heard that and was like, okay, totally clamped down, will not use my voice, will not sing. So I had this idea, like if I try all of these other things and maybe if I accomplish all these other things it would scratch the itch of music.
And it didn’t work. It just didn’t work. And I realized I’m not gonna end up on my deathbed wondering what if I tried, you know? And to me it was an irrational fear. I’m not gonna get on stage and die.
Even though my body thinks that’s what’s gonna happen. And so I started just doing all types of therapy. Like I tried to get hypnotized. I tried to do anything to get over this fear of it. But really at the end of the day, I just had to get up there and do it and I think ultimately, I knew that. It was the hardest thing I had to do, and it’s still something that’s within me. It’s still something that I have to fight through and realize that I’m not going to die when I get on stage. And if I hit a wrong note or it doesn’t sound perfect or I forget a lyric, or I ripped my pants on stage like I’ve done before, people are still gonna love me and it’s gonna be okay and the life goes on.
Me: I know exactly what you’re talking about it and but I had the aunt that said I love you, but you can’t sing.
Whitney Miller: Yep, it stays there.
Me: So, then you progress and get back on stage…..
Whitney Miller: I had a vocal coach at the time that was helping me just get over the fear and just being okay singing in front of somebody. He was doing a project and asked if I wanted to come in and sing in his studio, which I had never stepped foot into a professional studio like that, so that was terrifying, but he called and asked if I wanted to do that.
And I said, yes, I just knew that this was the time. This was God saying, here is your chance. If you’re gonna take it, take it, but if not, you’re just gonna keep living in this same kind of like locked down, fake, phony life.
So everything’s coming together and I do feel like, oh my God, I wish I would have done this earlier……you’re so stupid, why did you believe that? Why didn’t you just do it earlier? But, I think I had to go through all of these things, from pageants to fighting, to coaching, to growing up a bit, to do what I’m doing now> I know the type of music that I wanna make, and say what I wanna say, and get on stage and be okay at the end of the day.
Me: The songs I’ve seen, the ones that were on YouTube, you seem to have a positive female, positive genre rather than…..oh he hurt me whole torch type of thing. Is that intentional, is that you?
Whitney Miller: That’s me and that comes from a very real place. I definitely have the, oh my God, he hurt me and he’s such an asshole, and I have some of those songs that are coming out, but at the same time, I think at the end of the day, everything that we’ve been through, regardless if it’s a shitty relationship or something else, you can turn it into a positive.
Me: I guess it’s stuck in my head the pageant pictures that I saw earlier and then the hair now, the kind of more hip but being the positive role model. The genre usually goes the other way…..the woman’s usually the victim…..having the strong positive role model…..is that what you’re seeing in your audience as far as whatever the people that are your core fans?
Whitney Miller: Yeah I do and that makes me really happy to see that and I find that my audience loves the most when I’m the most open and vulnerable. They just really want to know what’s going on with me and in my life and I’ve always been someone who’s an open book. I share my ups and downs and I’m not ashamed of where I’ve come from and the things that I’ve done, and I share that hoping people can see it and be like….I’m not alone and I’m not crazy and our lives and our relationships and our things may be totally different but the feelings and the fears and the wants and the desires may be similar…..So I kind of open myself up to that knowing criticism is going to come with it but ultimately as long as I’m helping somebody I’m like anyone can hate me.
Me: I think that goes back to your coaching days of…. Hey I’m okay as long as I’m helping somebody…..is that something that’s just kind of a thing that comes out of you naturally?
Whitney Miller: I think it’s just kind of there. I always want to just love people and I love knowing more about you. I’m curious about people and what goes on with them and in their life. So yeah, I think it’s just kind of something that’s within me sometimes. I feel like I need to try to get out of that, and get more in the dirty and the grimy and not be so positive, because maybe there would be some great music that would come out of that. But, at the end of the day it’s just kind of ingrained in me and it’s something that I love so I just kind of keep it.
Me: Where do you want to go from here?
Whitney Miller: Well I’m doing a big project that’s gonna come out this summer. I’ve been working on it for the past year and a half. It’s a rock project, but it’s country rock at the same time, because I naturally sing with the twang which is what you probably heard. Born and raised in South Texas, that’s not gonna go anywhere.
But, it’s very modern rock instrumentals, so I’m not sure where it lands. I don’t know if it lands in the rock board or if it lands in the country world. And I’m not trying to force it to go one way or another. I just know that it makes me feel good at the end of the day. I’ve done a lot of my life for other people and that doesn’t always make me feel the best. So, I think creatively speaking, this is the most me project that I’ve done today.
Me: Would you like to see it go to the rock side or to the countryside?
Whitney Miller: I would like to be able to do both, if I could. I don’t know if the new project will be, it definitely won’t be straight down the line country. So if there’s a straight down the line country festival, I doubt that they would put me on that. But if there’s something a little more edgy, then yes, I’m there for that. But also, you know, the rock side of things.
And the interesting thing is that country and rock are very, dance well together. And so it really is going to be interesting to see how it’s perceived. I really have no idea, I have no clue, which is exciting to me, but also kind of terrifying at the same time.
Me: You alluded to the boyfriend earlier, do you eventually want to get into a family?
Whitney Miller: Yeah, I mean we talk about it. He’s a musician, too…..a drummer for a band called Highly Suspect, which is a rock band. So we would love to have that, we just have to kind of like see how it works with both of us chasing our dreams.
Dreams first. Dreams first. At this point, dreams first. And then I mean, I would love to set up a life to where I’m not worried about money or finances or who’s going to be on the road, when we’re going to be on the road.
I would love to have a life where if he’s on the road, then the family goes on the road with him. If I’m on the road, then they come on the road with me. So, yes, that is a dream scenario.
Me: Does he live here in town and you can work together on this project?
Whitney Miller: My boyfriend? Yeah, he lives here. I was in the studio for 12 hours every single day up until yesterday. It’s been great tweaking this EP and really getting it to the point where I can give it a full hell yes, yeah, because I’ve definitely fallen into the trap a little bit of the rat race and feeling like I have to put music out before I’m even ready to do it. This EP is going to be a full hell yes before it comes out so I don’t listen to the song and wish I did something differently.
Me: Yeah, it used to be 12 weeks on a single. Now, you put it out there for a year before anybody even knows it’s out there. Ane meanwhile, you have to keep pushing a new single out there every three or four weeks.
Whitney Miller: Yeah, I’m not doing that. Okay, I almost did. That’s where I realized that I was wasting money. I was putting out a product that I didn’t love. It was kind of screwing up my creative process. I moved to Nashville to do the one thing that I loved and no way in hell is anyone gonna take the love out of that part?
It’s like I waited my whole life cuz I was too afraid to sing my whole life, playing by someone else’s rules. I’m not doing it.
Me: So let’s crystal ball out here 20 years down the line. What would that look like for you?
Whitney Miller: I mean I am sitting in my one of multiple houses, but either one in Texas or one here in Tennessee in my home studio and I’m happy, and I feel really good, and I’m healthy, and I have cute dogs, and probably babies, and that whole thing.
That’s like baseline. That has to happen, you know? But on top of that, I have all my accolades on the wall of what it looks like for me pushing through my fears. And maybe it’s Grammies, maybe it’s CMAs, maybe it’s any of that, and I would love all of that.
So really, at the end of the day, I just want to be proud of myself that I did it, and that I didn’t let fear play me as a puppet.
