Miles Phillips, the seven-year-old Sydney boy whose catchy tune about eastern rosellas became a global sensation, has revealed he is already working on his next big hit.
Miles won fans worldwide with his infectious Eastern Rosella song, which has amassed millions of views online and attracted attention from musician Ben Lee, the BBC, and even the animated series Bluey.
Inspiration from a family trip
The young songwriter told Sunrise on Thursday that the hit was inspired by a visit to his grandparents' home on Raymond Island, in Victoria's Gippsland region. “I was feeding the birds seed on the veranda and birds just came along. There were pigeons, there were lorikeets, there were rosellas. But the main bird that stood out to me was the eastern rosella,” Miles said.
“So as I was feeding the birds seed, I came up with a catchy chorus. When we got back to Sydney, Dad and me started workshopping on it and we made it into a song.”
School bell fame and family surprise
The song has become such a phenomenon that it is now used as the bell at Miles' school — something he described as “weird and kind of cool.”
Miles’ father, Joel, admitted he could not have imagined a simple social media post would take off as it did. “People post videos to Instagram all the time. Why would I ever expect that this would be a thing?” Joel said. “Last week was a very emotional week, just because I don’t think I was, I couldn’t have been prepared for the amount of love that was pouring in for Miles’ song.”
He said the response from strangers around the world had been the most touching part. “People are so kind, and they have shown me that Miles’ song has become more than his. It’s become theirs as well, and that is something I never saw coming,” he said.
Karaoke version and new projects
With fans begging for a sing-along version, Miles is releasing a karaoke edition of Eastern Rosella on Thursday across music streaming platforms. But the seven-year-old isn't stopping there. He has already formed a school band called The Spikeheads with his friends and is writing a brand-new song called The Rock Of Doom.
As for his dream collaboration, Miles has one name at the top of his list — calling out to actor Jack Black. “I love your songs. And I love your movies, like, A Minecraft Movie, School Of Rock, Gulliver’s Travels,” Miles said in a message directed to the Hollywood star.
