From the Dorm Room to the Festival Stage: Meet Rising R&B Star MiLES

The college years are often when people shed the skin of their childlike selves and begin the journey into adulthood. New people and experiences come quickly, often miles from home and family. Most people focus on their studies, or parties, or both.

MiLES, the 19-year-old Atlanta native currently enrolled at Stanford, chose to do a third thing: make a career for himself as an independent R&B artist. His years of work pay off this weekend, when he performs a Friday set at the Bay Area’s largest music festival, Outside Lands.

At Stanford, MiLES is studying electronic engineering. “And I’m a musician, so you would think there’s no crossover,” he says. “But in my last class, I built a guitar.”

Playing Outside Lands is the first step in taking his music career to the next level. “I was surprised myself when I got it,” he says, eager to bring the rest of the world into his dreamy, emotion-filled music, colored by his life in Atlanta before starting his freshman year.

“I obviously saw the mecca that we are, and I knew that I was doing something different because I was inspired by different things. I just took it all in stride. It’s like, ‘Yes, and,’” he says.

MiLES’ interest in music began as a child, when, at age 8, he sang in the school choir and took formal piano lessons. Soon, he decided to take matters into his own hands, giving himself piano lessons by going to YouTube University. “I really loved learning Stevie Wonder tutorials,” he says. “Because I feel like once you can play Stevie, you can play anything.”

When he entered high school, he wanted to build on that framework for his own musical journey. He got his first job, working at Chick-fil-A, to save enough money to buy guitars, basses and interfaces, all of which he taught himself how to use.

Learning these skills helped MiLES make a name for himself in the next generation of R&B artists inspired by people like Frank Ocean and Tyler the Creator. Before starting his freshman year of college, he released his poppy, moody debut single “Oxygen,” which chronicles the loss he experienced during the 2020 pandemic.

“That song is a time capsule,” he says. “It was able to start a lot of cool things for me. When I think of that song, I feel grateful.”

In a Forbes interview from 2023, MiLES referred to his music as a way to expand the range of emotions that Black men are allowed to express. Everyone has to go through a moment of loss, has moments which cause them to look at life in new ways.

In January of this year, MiLES helped fans see his life anew when he released his Life Thru New Lens EP, and in May released a live EP of the same songs, performed in his dorm room with East Palo Alto’s coldwaterchris and Vallejo’s Hokage Simon.

“I saw it as a way to literally invite people into my home and give them those songs as real and unfiltered as possible,” MiLES says. “Everyone in the audience were friends that I’d made at Stanford, and to see everyone there, all in one place, was a really high moment in my career and in my life. The goal is to make more moments like that.”

Before summer ends, MiLES will head out on his second tour opening for Chicago artist SEB. As he continues his academic and musical careers, working toward a degree in electrical engineering while growing as an artist, he plans to continue sharing the world he’s created with others.

“I’m an artist that’s ever-changing,” MiLES says. “I’m taking in the world as I see it, and wherever that’s taking me, I’m open to it, and I’m excited for it.”

MiLES performs on Friday, Aug. 9, at the Sutro Stage at Outside Lands in San Francisco. Details here.