FNTSY
an interview featuring Terrell Miller
Hey, y’all! Today I’m switching it up with an interview featuring a dear friend of mine, Terrell Miller, and his newly released album, FNTSY. At 24 years old, Miller is unapologetic about his indulgence in a plethora of musical genres and how art can be limitless. We talk everything from vocal muses, to how some of the album’s strongest songs were last minute additions. Sit back, kick your feet up, and allow me to put you on to some real good shit.
dev: FNTSY's album cover has some stark differences from your Anomaly (2023) cover: a more saturated, vibrant color-scape; minimal, yet more focused, creative direction; and your previously disjointed self seems to have merged more harmoniously. May you give your audience some insight into what went into the aesthetic evolution with this project?
Terrell: During the last two years I have really honed in on what I want to do as an artist and what I want to say. I want to have a good time and I want people to have a good time. When it's time to have a moment, then let's relish in that moment no matter how sad or angry we might be. I want to put this idea in my music whatever way I see fit. I also used to be a little shy when it came to the content of my lyrics, but with FNTSY I told myself to let it all out. When it comes to my music, it's my world and what I want to express. And it was with that idea that the more sexual songs, "Amore", "Adrenaline Reloaded", and "LUX" were born. My main strength is my confidence. I let this be known in both parts of "Been That". I know exactly who I am and what I will achieve one day. I'm a bad bitch and here's some bad bitch music!
It was with all of that in mind that brought this dramatic change in aesthetic. I love Anomaly with all of my heart, but at that time, I didn't really know who I was as an artist just yet. I just needed more time to cook!
dev: What I want to know more about is who are your vocal muses (regardless of gender)? I think in terms of timbre and range, I get notes of Tevin Campbell, but there's a smokiness in your lower range that I can't quite place. It's also refreshing to hear a true tenor voice singing this kind of music-- not just a strong falsetto, but a belt that sits comfortably in the higher range.
Terrell: It's funny that you mention my lower range. For the longest time I neglected it as I chased after my higher range instead. And now I've kinda taken a pivot and have focused on my lower register. A high note will always be impressive but keeping an audience engaged with a lower string of notes is even more impressive. But the one thing that will turn heads the best is a great mix of both! That was one of my focuses in "I'm a Smoker"...making the audience bob their head with the low melody and turning their heads with the sudden high notes in the ad libs.
When it comes to my vocal muses, it's kinda tricky! Personally, I have never felt that I have sounded like anyone I listen to. And this is not me saying my voice is so unique and hasn't been heard before, but I genuinely don't hear myself in the music I listen to, nor do I hear another artist singing my music. Tevin Campbell is definitely someone I can see similarities with as I do think our mix belts are similar, but honestly that's really where that ends for me. I think the way we both sing is completely different, but I do love to sing his songs! And don't get me wrong, there are definitely people I look up to for their vocal prowess...Beyoncé, Whitney, Patti, Celine. But there aren't artists that I can say really influenced my vocal style. Someone's voice who I really admire right now is Chlöe Bailey. I am in love with how she transitions through all of her registers. Low or high, she can sing it all! "Temporarily Single" is a prime example of her precise control of the voice. Love it!
When it comes to my vocal style, I'm all over the place. I love to belt, but how I do it is the fun part. In "Seducer", I imitate a guitar with my voice and just start screlting, which is very fitting for the song and so fun for me, but it's completely different to the belting that you hear in "Take Me (Higher)". Those notes have more power in them and you can feel the emotion throughout. I will also say the belting in "Seducer" was much easier despite being higher...just saying! The same can be said in my runs and riffs. My favorite ad lib right now is probably in "Devil in the Eye Interlude" where I throw in two yodels in this crazy-ass run. I love to yodel! But then the runs of "Been That Pt. 1" are more aligned with R&B runs. Soft and clean. I just love experimenting with my voice!
dev: What was the time span of writing, producing, and recording this music? I'd love a peek behind the curtain regarding your creative process. How was it similar to creating your last body of work, and how does it differ?
Terrell: So as soon as Anomaly dropped I was already on to the next thing. I'm constantly writing and coming up with new ideas, and so I already had a few ideas of what I wanted to do regarding my next project. International Sensation was the first song that was conceptualized (Fall 2023), and it sort of decided what this project was going to sound like! FNTSY underwent many different forms; it originally had 20 songs, but I shaved it down to 12, and then raised it back to 15. One of my biggest objectives was to make sure it was a cohesive listen. I want to bring back listening to EPs and albums in their entirety. They are bodies of art that need to be taken in as an entire entity and not picked apart!
But getting back to the timeline, most of my ideas came one by one in 2024. Fun fact: "I'm a Smoker" was the first truly finished song as it was completed in March of 2024. I'm really nit-picky and will find even the smallest things to change about a song, but I could never find anything for that song to change! Another fun fact is that both "Get Away" and "Seducer" are extremely last minute additions as I wrote and produced those in June 2025...I am always thinking of the bigger picture when it comes to my projects and so if I feel that there is more to be done, I will not hesitate to do it! Even if it's two weeks before submission!
dev: An element I find so satisfying about FNTSY is your love for indulging in a plethora of genres-- you don't limit yourself. We can have this bluesy opener with "Devil in the Eye" to the dance floor fantasia that is "LUX". Have you always been someone who rejects neat boxes regarding your art, or did that take time, and if so, when did that shift happen?
Terrell: Funnily enough when I was younger I always saw myself as a pop ballad artist. I just knew I'd be belting out love songs like one of my idols, Adele, does. But when I actually started to write music, I found myself wanting to be...adventurous. "Astronaut Lover" and "Would You Ever?" are some of my favorite songs on Anomaly and it's because of how far they were out of my comfort zone. The bluesy pop aspect of "Astronaut Lover", and the sheer rock angst of "Would You Ever?" showed me that my true identity as a music artist is to express my art in as many ways as possible. Not conforming to one genre allows me to tell a story EXACTLY how I want to. It also keeps the audience on their toes because opening a pop project with "Devil in the Eye" is such a ballsy thing to do in my opinion.
dev: Culturally, there seems to be a newfound interest in Southern and other rural cultures in this country (e.g., Cowboy Carter, Sinners, Alligator Bites Never Heal, etc.), and I want to know how being a Black southerner influences your sound and the way you approach art-making as a whole.
Terrell: So I remember writing "Devil in the Eye" and one of my other songs in the vault towards the end of 2023, going into 2024. At that time, I was experimenting with new sounds and I felt that my voice sounded really well on blues and country tracks. So that's when I decided that Devil in the Eye would be a great challenge to incorporate into the project. At the time, pop for me had begun to fall into a spell of repetitiveness, and so I do believe artists began to look for new ways to revitalize the genre. And to do that, they started to pull from other genres. Beyoncé truly shattered the walls of genre and she definitely influenced how I shared my art on FNTSY. One of my favorite parts of the entire project is the transition from "Devil in the Eye Interlude" to "LUX". Going from the brazen blues song to a sex-driven, confidence anthem was complete insanity. But it was art! That keeps the listener engaged and wanting to hear more of what you can do to flip the term "genre" on its head.
dev: What's your favorite record on this project, and why?
Terrell: Now I try not to have favorites when it comes to my children! But one that really stands out to me right now is "Let Go". The song really captures my soul as an artist. The song starts as a soft pop rock song for a hopeless romantic that then explodes into a full on belted rock anthem for my crash out divas. It's great.
dev: What's the song you're most excited to perform live? Why?
Terrell: I have two answers for this. The first one is "International Sensation". I literally imagine myself doing this song live all the time. And being able to go to different places around the world and highlight them using the song would be so cool. In general, the song just releases the pop star in me.
My second song is "I'm a Smoker". I find myself always singing this song. And whenever I do listen to the track, I end up doing the most extra ad-libs so I believe that this is my mind wanting to put it on a stage.
dev: What song was the hardest to make?
Terrell: "Don't Cha". The song went through 3 major rewrites when it came to the melody and lyrics, and that's not even what was "hard" about making the song. The production and mixing of this song had me frustrated! As the song goes on, there's just so many things happening in the song where it got hard to hear the vocals or instrumentation I wanted to hear. It got to a point where I considered holding this song for a future project where my skills would be at a level to work on it. But as soon as I took a step back from the song and went to focus on other songs, I found myself wanting to work on it. By the time I did return to the song, I did pick up some new tricks and it allowed me to get the song where I wanted it to be. So let that be a lesson to the readers at home: Do not give up, but understand that there might be times that you need to let something marinate.
A close second would be "Party". However, the production of this song came so easily. It was the lyrics that got me with this one. It's such a hyper song and you need lyrics to match it. I had to actually rewrite everything at one point. My original version of the song was just...overly ambitious to say the least. The few people who have listened to that version will have to take that with them to their grave!
dev: What song came to you the easiest?
Terrell: "I'm a Smoker". As I said previously, this was the first finalized song in the project (March 2024). The next finalized song didn't come until I dropped "Party" in December of 2024! With "I'm a Smoker", I heard everything all at once. I knew how the melody sounded, I knew how I wanted the bass to sound, I knew what vocal layers I wanted. All it took was for me to piece them together one by one. I had the track produced with my vocals laid all in a day. And then it was really me mixing and mastering which only took a week or two. This song was finished within a month, and as I said, I could never find anything to change about it!
dev: What's one thing you want your audience to feel when experiencing this album?
Terrell: Exhilaration. Each song has a moment where the emotions set flight, the fear explodes, and there's no one in the world but you. I want the audience to sit and follow along and when those moments happen, live in it. That's when the true FNTSY occurs.
dev: Anything I missed that you want to expound upon?
Terrell: I'm very big on making sure people know that I write and produce all of my songs at the moment. And I do that so people, who are maybe starting out, know that they can pick up a microphone and just go. It might not seem "good" to you at that moment but you can't start from somewhere if you never start. I never stepped inside a recording studio whilst making this project, yet you can hear a clear difference from my earlier releases to now. And that's from sheer dedication. Now, I don't want to make music solo forever, but until the opportunity comes, I'm going to make sure that the stuff I'm putting out gets better and better until you think that Apple themselves made my shit. I don't strive to achieve perfection— it doesn't exist. I strive to break through and achieve new heights.
softly,
dev<3