Lakewood Ranch singer-songwriter dreams of performing at sold-out stadiums

Lakewood Ranch singer/songwriter Olivia Millin, 20, was surrounded May 11 by the billboards and the bustling crowds of Times Square in New York City.

Along with four dancers dressed in pink and black outfits, she prepared to film a music video for her song “TTYL,” which stands for “talk to you later.” It’s about walking away from toxicity and not letting it bring you down. 

She stood there wondering how she was going to part the crowd to accomplish what she went there to do. But as Millin and the four dancers began to perform, the crowd not only parted, the people circled around and watched.

“I want people to ask, 'Who are you?'” Millin said. "It felt like I was being noticed for doing what I love and it felt like I was being noticed for being good at it.” 

Millin is an independent musical artist with the goal of playing to sold-out stadiums in the future. On June 5, “Ttyl,” which was released Feb. 14, was No. 1 for the third week in a row on The Independent Music Network.

An Out-of-Door Academy graduate, Millin writes all of her own songs in two languages — English and Japanese. She learned Japanese in high school so she could better understand anime without reading English subtitles. She now creates music within the Japanese pop music or "J-Pop" genre. 

Photo by Madison Bierl

Millin released a Halloween song titled “Soul For The Taking” (in English only) on Sept. 12. It starts as a “spooky melody.” 

An Illustrate Magazine review called it "a candy bowl of dark-pop mischief" and added, it is "catchy, cinematic and campy, spooky pop. Put it on at your Halloween party and watch the dance floor clear ... or fill up, depending on who's brave enough to dance with the dead."

Deb Millin, Olivia’s mother and manager, said “Soul For The Taking” was the most downloaded song by U.S. radio stations the day after its release. She also said it hit No. 1 on adult contemporary charts in the United Kingdom. As of Sept. 26, the song has 18,000 Spotify views and 14,285 YouTube views. Olivia Millin said it was heavily inspired by Michael Jackson's “Thriller.” 

“I wanted to tell a story,” Olivia Millin said. “At the end, my favorite line is ‘No worries there’s next year, you won’t escape again my dear.’"

Millin began to sing at 3 years old and is a lover of musical theater. She said her biggest inspiration is Lady Gaga because she is so unapologetically unique. 

After experiencing her share of bullying over the years, Millin said she leveled out her feelings on paper through songwriting. She found it to be a good coping mechanism. She hopes her music is relatable and inspiring to those in similar situations. 

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“I hope it can inspire them to look up and realize that they're not at the bottom of the barrel,” Millin said.  “Nothing is bad forever.” 

Millin takes the opinions of her family and friends into consideration when she decides what songs to produce. Deb Millin said each generation has a different sound and it's important to have individuality from other artists while also not being too “out there.” 

“You want to create a melody that's catchy, that's addicting, but then the lyrics also have to resonate,” Deb Millin said. “It has to be able to pull some emotional aspect that's relatable, and she's good at that. The songs that I've axed from her repertoire are songs I don't find memorable, found too repetitive or ones where she's not taking enough risk.”

Deb Millin said it is important to produce songs that people can sing along to, and for her daughter to take advantage of her vocal talent. 

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“I want her songs to be simple enough where listeners finds themselves singing it when they're cooking dinner, or singing it in the shower,” Deb Millin said. “That's the sort of flavor that you want to be able to lend to your listener.”

Deb Millin said it is difficult to get signed to a label without already being successful. She said labels look at artists’ total number of streams, how many followers they have, and more. Olivia Millin’s goal is to start her own record label that is audition based. 

“Other people like me with a dream can have a chance at stardom,” Olivia Millin said. “They won't have to worry about the numbers on social media.” 

Olivia Millin has two upcoming albums “This Side of Me” which is planned to be released around Thanksgiving and War With AI which is planned for an April release. 

"I'm enjoying the journey and look forward to where it takes me," Olivia Millin said.