Singer Carolyn Miller Reveals How Meghan Trainor Helped Launch Her Country Music Career

Miller, 37, said she had originally studied to become an actress, but one shout-out from Trainor changed everything

NEED TO KNOW

• Country singer Carolyn Miller says a Meghan Trainor shoutout in 2018 helped launch her music career — and changed the trajectory of her life
• Miller said she had previously assumed she would pursue a career in acting up until that point
• The “When I Say I Do Today” singer shared the story during a recent appearance on The Dory Jackson Interview series

Country music singer Carolyn Miller says that Meghan Trainor helped launch her music career — and changed the entire trajectory of her life — with a single shoutout. 

Miller recalled the life-altering moment during a recent appearance on The Dory Jackson Interview series. During the conversation, the New York native, 37, shared that while she always knew she wanted to work in show business, she never thought she would pursue a career as a singer.

Miller explained that after graduating from college, she began casually uploading song covers to YouTube as a way to combat boredom while she auditioned for acting roles — which she thought was her true calling.

“For the first time in my life … I didn’t have school during the day and then auditions or filming or rehearsals or whatever at night,” she recalled.

“So, honestly, I ended up just getting bored in my downtime, because I’m someone that loves to go, go, go,” she added.

“So I turned to YouTube, uploaded a few covers,” she continued, adding that she liked how the platform enabled her to have complete artistic control — something she said she didn’t have when auditioning for parts.

And the covers began to have a life of their own.

“I unintentionally and organically started building a fan base, which then led to people being like, ‘When are you gonna put out original music?’ And I’m like, ‘I’m an actress from New York! People give me scripts!’ ” she said during the interview.

She said that while she felt “flattered” that people thought she could be a professional recording artist, she recalled thinking “that’s just not what I do.”

Miller said that despite having no plan to pursue music, she kept sharing covers, and eventually uploaded a song by Trainor, 32, in 2018 — which is when she says everything changed.

“We tagged Meghan Trainor, and Meghan herself had reshared it, and she had said, ‘Everyone, follow Carolyn Miller — this girl can sing,’ or something like that. So I woke up one morning with an extra 3,000 Facebook followers … and I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ ” she said.

“And there was this real thing that was starting to happen where I was like, ‘I’m loving what this world is. I don’t know a damn thing about it, but like, let’s see what’s behind door number three.’ ”

Miller said she hunkered down and began studying the music industry — and specifically country music, which was her favorite — in earnest.

“I was like, okay, if I want to be taken seriously, I need to start going to Nashville … I would try to talk to as many people as I [could]. I’d go sit at the bar alone at a music event to just observe, and I would take notes on my phone — like, ‘Did they open with a tempo? Did they go to a ballad? Where in the set do they start talking? Where did the brakes happen?’ ” she said.

The now-viral “When I Say I Do Today” singer said she began building a career in the industry “brick by brick” and “month by month.”

Looking back, the singer credits Trainor for putting her on her current path.

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“It was years ago, but it was enough for me to now all of a sudden have a little fan base,” she explained, adding that it felt like a “wink” from the universe to “see this through.”

Miller has since been spotlighted as a “Next Up Now” artist by CMT and named “One to Watch” by the Nashville Songwriters Association International. 

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