Jamie Miller (right) says he's found a "best friend" in Off Campus star Antonio Cipriano
Published4 hours ago
The singer behind the TikTok viral hit Babydoll says collaborating with an Off Campus star was "mind-boggling".
Jamie Miller, who is originally from Pontprennau in Cardiff, was close to calling it quits on his music career at the start of 2026, deciding it was his "last chance", financially and emotionally.
But over the summer everything changed when Babydoll caught the attention of people on social media, leading to a viral dance, his first UK top 10 single, and reaching number one in the US iTunes pop chart.
When Miller saw a comment from actor Antonio Cipriano, saying he "needed this song", he sent him a message suggesting he feature on a recording – then "panicked" and added "haha, joking".
"I'm a fan of Antonio's voice, and I have been a fan for a long time," he said.
"He messaged back and was like, 'If you're actually not joking, I'd be honoured'."
Cipriano headed to Los Angeles, where Miller now lives, and they recorded Babydoll on the day they first met, external.
"It was the best time ever," said Miller.
"We're coming up at the same time, he has an amazing career in acting and I feel like the stars aligned even for us to do this and the world is rallying around us as a duo too. The opportunities that we're having right now are incredible."
Amazon Prime Video's ice hockey romance series Off Campus – based on a book series by Elle Kennedy – has similarly taken the world by storm this year, ranking as the third most-watched series launch in the platform's history, external.
It has raised the profile of numerous artists, with a soundtrack merging old favourites with new music.
Asked if he would like to be involved with the series in future, Miller said: "I'm such a fan of the show. I think it's absolutely incredible what they're doing, what Antonio is doing. In any capacity, I would love to. We'll see."
Babydoll singer Jamie Miller on 'the craziest journey'
On Friday, the original version of Babydoll moved from number three to number two in the official UK charts – beaten only by Taylor Swift's Patient Zero.
Miller also recently supported The Jonas Brothers on the US leg of their tour, and said bringing Cipriano out as a guest star at some of the shows was "mind-boggling".
"I think the easiest thing about it was we're doing it together, for the first time. It was his first arena, it was my first arena, and I think that's the most amazing situation to be in, because we can lean on each other.
"Backstage we would say to each other, 'we're so lucky, our lives are not normal, we're going out to play for 20,000 people, what are we doing bro?'.
"Introducing him gave me chills because, as well as my dreams coming true right now, his dreams are too.
"It's so nice and needed, to have a friend who can guide you through."
Antonio Cipriano (left) plays John Logan, best friend of series lead Garrett Graham, played by Belmont Cameli
At 19, Miller competed in The Voice UK, coming third place with coach Jennifer Hudson.
But his love for music first began accidentally, when he took part in a primary school show.
"If you auditioned for the play, then you got to skip out math class," he recalled.
"Just to see the reaction from the teachers after they asked me to sing a song, was just absolutely like 'I want to do this, this is actually incredible.'
"All my mates were rugby players and football players, whereas I just wanted to do music. After that one audition, I was hooked."
Now 29, Miller admits the past couple of years have been "really tough", adding changes in the music industry and in his personal life had left him feeling quite lost.
"Going into this year was my last chance to try and cut through. This industry is really hard, it's really expensive as well," he said.
"I think the thing with success, people think you have a lot of money… I didn't really see that side of that. So financially, this year, I couldn't really make it work anymore. I was on my last legs."
Miller, pictured outside The Travellers Rest pub in Caerphilly, says he loves the support he gets from people back home in Wales
He continued: "Going into this year, I'd built my career off sad music, and I'm not sad anymore, I'm happy.
"I think Babydoll maybe brought a bit of light to a world that needed it. I know that sounds really cliché to say, but I do feel that is true, we needed some joy."
Miller said the whirlwind nature of Babydoll's success had led to accusations he was an "industry plant" – someone who appears to be self-made, while actually having backing from significant investors or supporters.
"I wish I was an industry plant, I've done this for nine years," he said with a laugh.
"At first, I was getting told this was coming across as a gimmick. But that's the thing, I'm not trying to be cool, I'm trying to just have fun.
"Literally, my mentality was 'if I'm going out, and this is my last chance at music, I'm going out my way.'"
Jamie Miller, from Cardiff, says he hopes he's "doing Wales proud"
Miller said he "never had any social media campaign" planned and it "happened the most organic way possible".
As the Babydoll dance took hold of social media, Miller collaborated with an array of stars including actors Jennifer Love Hewitt, Lucy Hale and Julianne Hough, as well as popstar Meghan Trainor.
"All these incredible people I've been able to do it with, they've said it themselves, they've said 'we needed this song'.
"From all sides of the world, it's kind of unified people in a way, and it's just a beautiful thing to be a part of something that made someone smile."
Miller said he was "proud" of his new music and was excited to share his latest album with the world and to tour it – in particular, he said, to bring it to Wales.
But he added the non-stop nature of the past couple of months had been "really hard to process".
"It feels like so many life changes are happening around me, but I'm still the same person. It's dystopian, in a way.
"Especially being from Wales, you don't really see stuff like this happening to people all the time. Tom Jones is absolutely incredible, but I feel like he's really been the one that's flown the flag, and rightfully so.
"I'm very appreciative for everything that's going on right now, and thank my lucky stars. I just hope I'm doing Wales proud, to be honest."
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