Young Singer Takes The Spotlight

JAMESTOWN, NY (WNY News Now) – A young, up and coming artist has stolen the spotlight this week. In a one-on-one interview with WNY News Now, Miranda Wilcox expressed her love for music, and what the future holds for herself and her band, Miranda and The Line.

At just 17-years-old, Wilcox is writing, producing, singing, and mixing her all original songs in the comfort of her bedroom while simultaneously balancing her solo career, her band, and her social life.

“I’ve been playing since I was seven, I got a little toy keyboard for a Christmas or birthday present when I was younger and I picked it up from there, I started playing guitar from age 12. My dad and my sister both played so I think that’s where a lot of it grew from. It was kind of their skill unto me, and I kind of picked it up and from there I started teaching myself things. I’ve been singing all my life so I guess I finally put the two together at like, 12 or 13 I would sing and play but I didn’t really show anybody at that point, I would just take videos of myself to listen to,” said Wilcox.

The young singer has a lot on her plate, but has learned how to stay cool under pressure.

“There isn’t too much pressure behind it surprisingly, it’s exciting because I feel like the fact that I’m younger and the fact that I’m a girl kind of sets me apart from the rest of the music industry around here, so I take pride in that and I take pride in my work ethic at my age, the only thing that gets difficult about it is the fact that I’m going to be a senior in high school and I’m very serious about my studies. I run cross-country, I’m serious about my sports. Juggling academics and having a teenage social life and still running cross-country and still doing music, juggling all of those things I think is the only thing that is a minor setback. Other than that, I take pride in where I’ve gotten at this age,” Wilcox explained.

When it comes to the future, Wilcox has big dreams but is keeping her eye on the prize.

“I’m the type of person to keep things as realistic as I can, a few years ago if you would’ve asked me that I would’ve said I’m just going to keep it as a hobby in the back of my mind but I’m going to be a fashion designer when I grow up, but throughout this venture the last year I’ve kind of developed a new dream for music, I really want to be a music teacher so I’m planning on going to school for music education upon graduating next year. One of my idols is honestly my choral teacher at my high school, so I want to be just like her and have people look up to me the way I look up to her, I want to do that when I’m older but at the same time I’ve always had this dream in the back of my head like ‘oh, I could be the next Ariana Grande, I could be a famous musician one day’, but there’s a dream and there’s a plan,” Wilcox said.

This talented teen has a message to share with her fans and anyone needing a bit of encouragement.

“No matter what, don’t let anything stop you. Go for it. Confidence is something you grow within yourself, you don’t need the validation of other people to do it, so if you have a dream, if you have a passion, everybody starts somewhere, go for it,” said Wilcox.