Travis Mills

Travis Tatum Mills (born April 12, 1989), previously known by his stage name T. Mills, is an American rapper, singer, and actor from Riverside, California. Following his name change from T. Mills to Travis Mills, he began hosting an eponymous show on Apple Music 1.

Early life Travis Tatum Mills was born on April 12, 1989, in Riverside, California. At the age of 5, Mills' uncle gave him his first guitar and at the age of 15 Mills stopped playing sports to start a punk rock band. After graduating high school, Mills began writing his own songs and produced them on a computer software. He started uploading his music on MySpace and intentionally posted "provocative" photos on the platform to stir interest.

Career 2008–2010: Career beginnings and Ready, Fire, Aim! At the age of 17, Mills began writing songs in his bedroom, using music software such as Apple's Garage Band. At the age of 18, Mills began posting some of his music on his Myspace page. In 2008, Mills signed a deal to the indie record label Uprising Records.

2011–2012: Signing to Columbia Records, Leaving Home and MtvU's Woodie Awards

In 2011, Mills signed a deal to Columbia Records, following him signing a deal, he began recording his second and first major-label album. On July 22, 2011, Mills released a mixtape, titled Leaving Home. Leaving Home is a 10-track project, with no guest appearances, while the production was provided from Noel Zancalla, Omen, AudioBlack, The Futuristics, Colin Munroe and Phonix, among others. On December 6, 2011, Mills announced that he would be repackaged as a 5-track EP, under its same name as his mixtape through Columbia Records. The EP's lead single, called "Vans On" was released on December 12, 2011, along with the promotional single, called "The Boom". The EP was made available for retail stores on December 13, 2011. On December 15, 2011, to promote the release of the EP, he performed at The Roxy Show in Los Angeles, California. The EP was released for free on December 19, 2011, The EP was officially released on January 13, 2012, featuring some added new tracks, while the additional production was provided from Sir Nolan and The Stereotypes, among others. On July 23, 2012, Mills released his second mixtape, called Thrillionaire. It contains 10 tracks, featuring three guest appearances from American rapper Smoke DZA, the hip hop duo Audio Push, and an American musician James Fauntleroy II; as well as the production from Sledgren, The Monsters & Strangerz and Kane Beatz, among others. To promote the mixtape release, Mills filmed some music videos for songs such as "Lightweight", "Diemonds" and "Other Bitch Callin'" featuring James Fauntleroy II. Mills later announced that he is planning on releasing the sequel for his second mixtape, called Thrillionaire 2.

2013–2015: SummerFest and All I Wanna Do

In 2013, Mills announced that the release date for his second major-label album has been slated for the second quarter of 2013. On February 15, 2013, Mills announced that his first single for his second major-label album will be coming soon. On March 5, 2013, the audio for his song, called "Loud" was released for digital download. The following day, Mills released the music video for "Loud". The song was produced by Pop Wansel, and the song contains a sample of "I Know You Got Soul" performed by Eric B. and Rakim. He later said that "the hook for the song was one of his favorites out of all the hooks, he has ever written". On June 27, 2013, Mills was featured on Mike Posner's remix to "We Own It (Fast & Furious)", along with Sammy Adams and Niykee Heaton. In June 2013, Mills was on tour with We the Kings, and the fellow supporting acts The Ready Set and Breathe Carolina on the 2013's SummerFest. The music video for the single, called "All I Wanna Do", was shot and filmed in July 2013.

On February 18, 2014, Mills announced the release to his third EP, titled All I Wanna Do. Starting from February 24 to April 24, 2014, Mills will be headlining on his All I Wanna Do Tour.

2016–present: Signing to First Access Entertainment, While You Wait and Girlfriends On January 22, 2016, Travis announced the release of his new single, called "Don't Need Much". The song was released through Republic Records, which was made available for streaming on SoundCloud on the same day of release. The beat from "Don't Need Much" was sampled from a single named "Drank & Drugs", performed by Dutch rappers Lil' Kleine and Ronnie Flex. Travis signed a new label deal with First Access Entertainment and released his fourth EP under the label, titled While You Wait on April 8, 2016. The EP contains six tracks. Travis walked in the New York and Paris fashion shows in July 2016, and was named one of the best dressed by GQ Magazine.

In 2020, Mills formed the band Girlfriends with Nick Gross, with the duo citing Blink-182, 5 Seconds of Summer and All Time Low as the band's musical influences. The band released their first self-titled album on October 23, 2020 featuring 14 tracks. The band's second album, (E)motion Sickness, was released on June 17, 2022.

In March 2023, girlfriends released the single "Over My Dead Body" via Big Noise. girlfriends is slated to make an appearance on the 2026 Vans Warped Tour.

Musical style Mills' music has been described as genre-blending due to his mix of singing and rapping, being mostly labeled as a hip hop and synthpop artist. He is known for mixing pop and electronic songs with hip hop and R&B. Mills says that his genre-blending music is a result of his exposure to many different genres during childhood. He has said that "[my] mom was a huge Queen fan, my dad's a diehard Elvis fan, my uncle is a hip-hop and R&B head, my sister listened to Britney Spears, country and boy bands and I was into pop punk, punk rock, metal and just into everything."

Reality TV gigs

In 2019, he co-starred in a spinoff of Catfish: The TV Show called Ghosted: Love Gone Missing, where he teamed up with Bachelorette star Rachel Lindsay to help people find those who have ghosted them and find the real reasons for the sudden disappearance in the ghosted persons life. On April 26, 2022, he joined actress Rahne Jones to host MTV's brand-new docuseries, Help! I’m in a Secret Relationship! Mills and Jones help individuals in long-term romances find out why they are being hidden from their partner's family and friends.

Personal life Mills is heavily tattooed, which includes a full sleeve on one arm and a Bone Thugs-n-Harmony tattoo on his chest, in addition to many others. He also designated the letters "FTH" ("Fuck The Haters", "Forever The Highest") on his forehead, the "O" with a heart behind his left ear representing his sisters name and the word "Patience" tatted on his knuckles. Mills also had the word "Gnarly" tattooed across his stomach at age 18. A couple months later he got a tattoo of the Apple logo drawn on the palm of his hand.

Early in his career Mills sported large stretched earlobes, but proceeded with lobe reconstruction surgery in 2013.

Mills was in a relationship with actress Madelaine Petsch from 2017 to February 2020.

Discography Solo career Studio albums + List of albums Title Details Ready, Fire, Aim! Released: September 28, 2010 Label: Uprising Format: CD, digital download

Extended plays + List of EPs, with selected chart positions Title Details Peak chart positions US Rap Finders Keepers EPReleased: July 14, 2009 Label: Uprising Format: Digital download — Leaving Home EPReleased: January 13, 2012 Label: Columbia Format: Digital download — All I Wanna DoReleased: February 25, 2014 Label: Columbia Format: Digital download 16 While You WaitReleased: April 8, 2016 Label: First Access Entertainment Format: Digital download — "—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory.

Mixtapes Leaving Home (2011) Thrillionaire (2012)

Singles

With girlfriends girlfriends (2020) (e)motion sickness (2022) There Goes the Neighborhood (2025)

Guest appearances

Filmography Year Film Role Notes 2015, 2021 Ridiculousness Himself Guest 2016 Flaked Stefan Recurring role 2018 Alone Together Stainz Episode: "Pootie" 2019 Good Girls Tobin Episode: "Thelma and Louise" 2019–2021 Ghosted: Love Gone Missing Himself Co-host 2020 Wild 'n Out Himself Guest 2020 2020 MTV Video Music Awards Himself Commentator at the Pre-Show