You can’t always put a price tag on awesomeness, but Mia Rodriguez wants you to know she’s a billion dollar bitch. At just 18 years old, the rapid riser from Sydney is living the dream by just being herself and bringing her best ideas to life. Reminding herself of her worth while reminding others of theirs may just be one of her greatest so far.
“I never thought that I would actually be in the music industry,” Mia says as we begin our conversation. As someone who experienced frequent bullying at school, Mia found music as a great distraction. “I would come home and turn on some Ariana Grande karaoke or some shit, and sing my heart out. It was like an escape for me.”
Long before the days of TikTok, Mia would turn to YouTube to be mesmerized by aspiring singers showcasing their talent on the site. Little did she know, it was only a matter of time until she’d find herself in that same boat. “I saw YouTubers turning into musicians, and that’s what I wanted to do,” she says. “I started on YouTube actually when I was 12, and I tried to make a channel and stuff. I got a little bit of attention, and I found musical.y before it became TikTok, and it kinda just went on from there.”
As time went on, Mia found herself taking music more and more seriously. She set sail on her own ship, and there was no turning back. Best of all, more and more people started jumping on board. Mia spills, “It was hard when I did YouTube as a kid, but I managed to rack up around 10k subscribers before I started… which was pretty motivating. I downloaded musical.ly kind of as a joke as a time, because the app was so dead at the time. I just started posting random videos for fun, and it was not hard at all for me to get followers. I don’t know who was on that app, but probably after 2 weeks the followers just kinda started rolling in. I went from 10 followers a week to 10,000 followers a week, to 100,000 followers a week, and it was insane. Because it was all online, it didn’t really register like… my followers just kinda looked like numbers to me. Of course I interacted with fans and saw them as people, but it didn’t just really register that all these people liked my content.”
Inevitably, Mia caught the attention of a handful of record labels. “Some of them were phonies as well,” she mentions lightheartedly. Mia decided to make the brand new City Pop records her home, which was co-founded by legendary Australian concert promoter Michael Chugg and Andrew Stone. “I think just signing to a label in the first place is a really big achievement,” she mentions. “It makes you feel like you can actually have a chance at singing as a career, and I think that’s really cool.”
Mia had released a handful of singles as an independent artist, including “Psycho,” which has surpassed 14 million streams on Spotify alone!
Since Mia is someone who likes to constantly push her creative boundaries, she made sure her label debut was on the next level. “I was in the studio, and I was like okay… I want a song that makes me feel like a bad bitch,” Mia says. “I guess, when you’re going through a shitty time or people are kinda treating you like shit, you wanna up your game a bit. You wanna glo-up, and that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to release a song that everyone in my life that would’ve hurt me or betrayed me, I wanted them to see that. I wanted them to see that I’m confident in myself, and I know my worth.”
That song is “Billion Dollar Bitch,” out today. Simply put, it’s about letting others know (you) are worth a billion dollars. But of course, it’s also a bow to Mia’s artistic and personal journey.
Mia spills, “I was a really shy kid, and I wouldn’t sing in front of anyone except my little brother. I didn’t really care about singing in front of him, because he was a little shit anyways, and I didn’t really care about annoying him. He’d always be like, ‘Mia, stop singing. Shut up, you’re so loud!’ But I was like whatever. I was super shy, so stepping into a studio and singing my first song helped me break out of my shell. Even though it was a slow process (and I was still shy along the way) doing all these music videos, dancing and lip syncing in front of these random people I’ve never met before, all the camera crews and all that, and doing all these interviews… it’s really made me feel confident. I feel like my single ‘Billion Dollar Bitch’ is a representation of that.”
She continues, “The music video is so cool as well, and Yung Baby Tate looks amazing. There’s even a scene in the music video where they’re like pulling jewelry out of my stomach on a surgery table. I’m pretty excited for my fans to see that, for people to come across that video on YouTube and be like damn, that’s weird!”
(She’s bringing some originality to the table… literally… the surgery table.)
As Mia continues to make her dreams come to life, she hopes that others will think of her as her own artist. “I think sometimes I do fear that I’m being compared to other artists,” she admits “People compare things to what they know, but I honestly try not to worry about it too much. I kinda just do my own thing, it comes naturally. I work with some pretty good music video producers as well, so it’s fun sharing ideas and just doing whatever without worrying about what anyone else is doing.”
And at the end of the day, Mia is darn proud that she took the leap of faith and started sharing her talents with the world. I think I valued my passion more than how shy I was,” she says. “I was like… would you rather have your dream job and be a famous singer that tours around the world, or would you rather be shy, you know? You gotta kinda know your priorities, and I was like you know what? There’s no time to be shy.”
With the release of “Billion Dollar Bitch,” there’s no time to sit around and question your worth, either. If there’s something grand you want in life, there’s no harm in shooting your shot and trying to obtain it. Just be sure to do so while listening to this song.
“I definitely want all the girls and the gays to dance to this one,” Mia proclaims.
“Billion Dollar Bitch” (feat. Yung Baby Tate) is out now. Check it out below!
If you enjoyed my chat with Mia Rodriguez, be sure to keep up with her on social media! Find Mia on Twitter @miarodriguezxxx, Instagram @miaaarodriguezzz, and TikTok @mia.rodriguez.z.z ✿
