Bea Miller

As a 13-year-old contender on the second season of the U.S. version of The X Factor in 2012, Bea Miller made a big impression with powerhouse performances of Jason Mraz’s “I Won’t Give Up” and David Guetta and Sia’s “Titanium”. Though her exit from the competition came too soon, Miller’s appearance was still the launching pad the feisty teenager deserved. Miller’s 2014 EP, Young Blood, and 2015 album, Not an Apology, established the Manhattan-born singer and actress as an uncommonly confident young talent, one who roughed up the teen-pop template of Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez—both of whom invited her out on tour—with a grungier sensibility. Her boldness also came to the fore on spiky songs like her 2016 self-empowerment anthem “yes girl” and 2017’s “S.L.U.T.”, a subversive slice of dance pop that upends the word’s negative connotations while turning the tables on online body-shamers. After scoring a worldwide hit with the Swedish duo NOTD on 2018’s “I Wanna Know”, she continued to blaze a path of her own with the 2020 EP elated! and the combustible mix of strength and vulnerability she displayed on tracks such as “Feel Something Different”, an exhilarating, club-ready collaboration with Aminé.