Bea Miller

Though you may not know it, musically, American pop star Bea Miller is a partial veteran. After initially finding fame on the second series of the U.S version of the X Factor back in 2012, Miller subsequently inked a deal with the Disney owned label, Hollywood Records. Under this deal, she’s achieved a top ten album, two GOLD certified singles and TikTok virality with her 2019 sleeper hit, ‘feel something’. However, in spite of this success, I always knew Miller yearned to explore more mature themes sonically – a desire, for obvious reasons, a Disney recording company would not be able to facilitate.

Friday 17th March marked the release of ‘jealous of my friends’, the third single issued under Miller’s own label, ‘Gauche Records’. Whilst, in my view, the two previous singles under ‘Gauche’, namely ‘lonely b*tch’ and ‘cynical’, showcased Bea’s lyrical transition from teen friendly to adult contemporary, audibly, they were not as memorable as her earlier discography released under Hollywood. However, ‘jealous of my friends’ is overwhelmingly redeeming in more ways than one. Sonically, this is probably one of, if not my favourite, Bea Miller track to date. Stylistically, the single explores grunge, pop-punk and guitar heavy instrumentation and is a delightfully anthemic record alluding to the envy we are all embarrassed to admit we hold towards the successes of our friends. On an additionally positive note, the record is brilliantly catchy, melodic and a really effective utilisation of the current popularity of pop/punk and alternative rock music. With Demi Lovato’s ‘HOLY FVCK’, Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Sour’ and Avril Lavigne’s ‘Love Sux’ all reconnoitring the pop-punk/rock genre and subsequently reaching the summit of global charts, I have no doubt that ‘jealous of my friends’ will appeal to a massive market. Absolutely superb!