If you’re familiar with the album Silver Lining, then you probably know Jake Miller. Today, Miller released the second continuation of Silver Lining, Silver Living II. We chatted with Miller about his brand new album and his new tour that starts later this year.
Your new album comes out Friday, which is more like a continuation of your first Silver Lining. What was the creative process like?
I started from scratch. Writing and recording this album right before the pandemic. So, I’ve just been for the last two years, just compiling these songs and, you know, it’s 21 songs on this album, but I probably made close to a hundred songs.
These are the 21 that I’m the most proud of. I feel like they’re cohesive, they fit together and they really say what I want to say these days. You know, I wrote Silver Lining when I was going through the worst breakup ever, my first and only heartbreak. And so that’s all I could really write about at that point.
And now I’m, you know, in an opposite situation where all I want to do is sing about, you know, how happy I am. I’m with someone who makes me just so happy all the time and of course other messages as well throughout the album, not just, you know, a bunch of lovey-dovey stuff. So, I’m really excited for people to hear the growth of, you know, of kind of where my life has gone in the last few years.
What was your inspiration to create a continuation of Silver Lining and what inspired you to title it Silver Lining II?
Well, I know that silver lining, um, is definitely a fan favorite to, you know, to my fans.
They, I think most people that, you know, really listen to me, if you ask them. Their favorite album by me is silver Lining. And so, you know, as proud as I am of that album, you know, I was just starting to produce my own music when I made that. I was in a completely vulnerable, emotional state where all I could write about was, you know, sad stuff.
I kind of wanted to just continue the story and, you know, it’s really just a metaphor for, you know, everything comes full circle. Everything will be okay. Everything will turn around if you give us some time, time heals, everything.
What was kind of your silver lining for you this year during this pandemic?
Definitely that I got to spend six months living under the same roof as my parents and my sister again, which we never thought would happen.
You know, my girlfriend and I have only been dating for, you know, a year and a half to two years, but this pandemic has made us so much closer, we really haven’t spent one minute apart, which kind of sounds unhealthy, but for us it’s been awesome. It feels, I think it definitely brought us closer just because, you know, we didn’t have anything to do.
You know, going for picnics or going for bike rides or going on road trips and just exploring and being outside, enjoying California. I think that was definitely a huge plus, you know, there’s, I think this pandemic also taught me how important it is to stay connected with my fans and the people that support me.
I’ve been really, you know, heavily involved in, you know, DM-ing people back and being on social media, answering comments. And I created a fan club app where I can, you know, every day post to my fan club app and give them behind the scenes videos and live streams and pictures and unreleased songs to really just keep those biggest diehard fans, you know, happy and in my corner.
So, yeah, I mean, with everything that’s happened, that there’s definitely been some silver linings this year, for sure.
What can we expect to see from the music video for your song “Click?”
It follows the story of a kid who grew up wanting to be an astronaut and shows him it’s supposed to be, you know, eight year old me watching a rocket launch on TV, dressed up in an astronaut suit, playing with rocket toys and Legos, NASA posters everywhere. Then it kind of follows me growing up and you know, now I’m an engineer, I’m a 28 year old engineer trying to apply to NASA, getting rejection letters in the mail.
I’m still trying to work at it and grinding to, to just be better and better. And the whole time, while I’m growing up, everything is orbiting around me everywhere I go. So, I’ll walk into the kitchen and there’s forks and knives and glasses orbiting around my head, or I go into the gym and there’s weights floating above me.
I walk in the living room, all the furniture was floating and it kind of just, uh, it’s just a metaphor for, you know, that dream of mine has never really gone away. I’ve always been infatuated with it and it’s, it’s a really cool, cool video.
If you could set up a fan in any setting or place for them to listen to your new album, what setting would that be?
It’s funny. I actually, just right before this, I did a live stream on my fan club app, and I said to them, you know, I know a lot of these people have been. Some of these songs are already out. Some of them, some of them have little clips or previews that are released, but I encouraged everyone to when the album comes out tomorrow night at midnight to, put your phone away, well, first pick your phone up, put Spotify on or apple music or whatever you listen to, you know, just kind of lay in bed, turn the lights off, put your headphones on and put your phone down and just kind of listen to the whole thing from front to back.
Kind of the way that I intended it to be listened to and just kind of block out all the other distractions. It doesn’t really even matter where you listen to it, it’s more just like, you know, really get into it and, uh, put the world away for an hour.
What is one quote that you’ve heard in life that you would want to ECHO out to fans?
The quote that I live by is good things happen to good people. My dad just drove that in my brain since I was little. And that’s all I really live by.
Stream Silver Lining II now and make sure you get tickets to his tour as well.