In March 2024, Steinhardt sophomore Timilehin Awaye — also known as Milehin — stood in the crowd of NYU Program Board’s annual V100 concert, watching artists like JPEGMAFIA and Kelela perform. One year later, she found herself on the stage at Terminal 5, performing as a student opener before artists JT and Ravyn Lenae.
Awaye first explored her interest in music and public performance privately, prior to coming to NYU. Although her father played music and she became proficient in guitar and piano herself, Awaye’s parents only fully understood her capacity for performance a few months before her high school graduation when she began sharing videos of her music online.
What began as posting TikToks and Youtube tutorials for fun soon earned Awaye over 17,000 TikTok followers and the attention artists who had influenced her style, like guitarist Melanie Faye and producer Jay Versace.
At NYU, Awaye is majoring in music technology and computer science, and last year she mixed and mastered two EPs. Now, she’s working with Village Records as a part of a music business course by the same name, in which students divide into teams and assume the responsibilities of a traditional record label in an ongoing campaign with the goal of creating a music video and releasing a single. Awaye spoke to WSN about her inspirations and experience creating music in a team setting.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
WSN: What drew you to NYU and New York City to study music?
Awaye: I’m from Michigan, and it was always my dream to come to New York City and to be in the city and the music scene. I love the culture, or the fast paced-ness of it, and I thought that I could benefit from that musically, and in that, I’m stepping foot into adulthood.
WSN: This semester, you’re being represented by NYU Music Business’s Village Records. Can you tell us a bit about how you got involved, and what that representation looks like?
Awaye: I didn’t know too much until a friend in the class [submitted me for consideration], but I’ve been communicating with the teams, like the student groups — the audio team, the press team, the music video team. Throughout the semester, I’ve been communicating with each of them and just getting small aspects of the entire song, or small aspects of the full song release completed, like getting the song done, then getting the video shot and getting an interview.
WSN: How does the feeling of performing differ for you when creating content versus performing live?
Awaye: Performing live was very new. I started doing that like a year ago for real. I would play guitar a little bit in church, but they wouldn’t really see me, so it wasn’t like I was in the forefront. I feel like it’s easier for me to do it online and just on my phone. I’ve been trying to bridge that comfort of me in my room to me on a stage. It’s just a thing that will come with more time.
WSN: You’ve mentioned that your most recent EP, “Comfort Therapy,” was heavily inspired by your love of painting. What is the relationship between your love of visual art and music, and could you talk a bit more about how they influence one another?
Awaye: There’s definitely a strong relationship with all art. Visual art is just another medium for me to express myself. I view all mediums the same way in that I view them as very intimate. I have a very obsessive relationship with the arts, where I just respect it so much — you’ve just got to care for it. That’s why I feel like with painting, I really value the step-by-step process, the going in and then coming back out, and then fixing. I genuinely think painting is kind of the root of all art, if that makes sense … you’re just making music visually.
WSN: Between V100, performing in the East Village and a Tiny Dorm set, you’ve been very involved in the NYU music scene. Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians at school in terms of getting involved and making a brand for themselves?
Awaye: Obviously, be yourself, you know? Don’t get caught up in all of the things that are not you. Find out what matters to you and then really center that and advocate for that, because that makes everything easier. I feel like because we’re in New York it’s a lot of pressure to do a lot of things at once. Sometimes, I’ll feel like I should be doing all this other stuff that I don’t really want to do, but just figure out what you do want and what you care about. It’s so much easier for you to accomplish things.
WSN: What can you share with us about your upcoming single?
Awaye: I’m very proud of it. I wrote it earlier this year, around January. It’s a commentary on our society and where we’re at in life, as a country, as people — it has climate change elements in it. It’s pretty serious. But I also love the production on it … it’s actually not that much different from what I normally do, but it’s another aspect of what I do that I would love to show people more.
Contact Eleanor Jacobs at [email protected].
