Sound CheckExclusive: T. Mills talks growing up for his major label debut album
Later this year, Riverside, Calif., rapper/singer/songwriter T. Mills will make his major label debut with Columbia Records. Now more than ever, the musician says that he is intent on making the “best songs” he can.
“I feel like [in the past] I was writing songs just to see if I could write a song and try to put it out,” Mills told Yahoo! Canada Music. “Now, I want to write the best song that I can and I want it to be able to reach as many people as possible.”
Mills (whose real name is Travis Tatum Mills) has been working on his upcoming record with producers like James Fauntleroy and Malay, who worked with Frank Ocean on his Grammy Award-winning album “Channel Orange.” In March, Mills premiered his latest single “Loud,” which at press time boasts over 71,450 plays on SoundCloud and has more than 364,000 views on YouTube.
“I recorded that song in four hours, and that’s just a testament to my song writing and what I’ve been learning to do,” the singer revealed. “I feel like ‘Loud’ is one of the more urban-leaning songs. The hook on that song is one of my favourite hooks I’ve ever written.”
While Mills is the first in his family to become a musician, he says that they’ve always supported his dreams and that his home was filled with multiple genres of music growing up.
“The first CD I ever had was Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind,’” he explained. “My mom was a huge Queen fan, my dad’s a diehard Elvis fan, my uncle is a hip-hop and R&B head, my sister listened to Britney Spears, country and boy bands and I was into pop/punk, punk/rock, metal and just into everything.”
It seems like this upbringing played a large role in the development of the rapper’s sound, which is hard to place into one category, since it can sometimes combine genres like hip-hop, pop and R&B in a single song.
“I feel like I just integrate all of my influences and a bunch of sounds into my music,” Mills said. “When I’m in the studio, I don’t try to put myself in a box and I don’t try to get one type of song. I just hear things in my head and I’m a product what I grew up listening to and everything around me and I embrace that. I feel like that’s why my music just sounds different.”
To keep up with Mills, head to his website here.
