Miquela

**Miquela Sousa** (better known as **Lil Miquela** or **Miquela**), is a robotic-musician created by Trevor McFedries and Sara DeCou. The project began in 2016 as an Instagram profile. The account details a fictional narrative which presents Miquela as a cgi character and model in conflict with other digital projects, while marketing a variety of brands, primarily in fashion. As a marketing tool, Miquela has featured product endorsements for streetwear and luxury brands such as Calvin Klein and Prada. By April 2018, the account had amassed more than a million followers. As of April 2020, she has over 2.1 million followers. She released her Debut Single "Not Mine" in 2017.

## Career

### 2016-2019: Music Debut

On August 9, 2017, Miquela released her Debut single, "Not Mine". Later that month, she released her follow-up single "Over You". On September 15, 2017, Miquela released a Remix for "*Not Mine*". On January 26, 2018, she released a single called "You Should Be Alone" along with a lyrics video. On August 17, 2018, Baauer collaborated with Miquela on a single called "Hate Me". and released a Music Video which was her first Music Video ever. On April 10, 2019, she released her single "Right Back". On June 11, 2019, Miquela released her first Remix Album for "*Right Back*" called "Right Back (Club 404 Remixes)". On July 31, 2019, Miquela released two singles called "Sleeping In" & "Money". On October 3, 2019, she released a single called "Wasted". later that month, Lauv collaborated with Miquela on a single called "Sims". in November 7, 2019, Miquela released her Single "Automatic" and the Music Video followed On November 12, 2019.

### 2020-Present: Speak Up

On January 2020, R3HAB & Miquela collaborated on a Remix for "*Money*". On March 23, 2020, Miquela released a single called "Speak Up" after she broke up with her boyfriend. On April 1, 2020, Miquela released a Remix for "*Speak Up*". Later this month, she released a single called "Machine" featuring Teyana Taylor. along with an animated lyrics video.

## Origins

The character Miquela is a teenaged Instagram model from Downey, California. Miquela's first Instagram post was made on April 23, 2016. British model Emily Bador was rumored to be Miquela; Bador openly acknowledged the physical similarity between herself and the character.

In April 2018, Brud announced that it was the creator of both the character and the Instagram account.

## Online Presence

Miquela has been pictured with a number of celebrities including Diplo, Molly Soda, Millie Bobby Brown, Nile Rogers, Shane Dawson, Samantha Urbani and Pabllo Vittar. She has been interviewed and or profiled in a number of publications including Refinery29, *Vogue*, Buzzfeed, v-files, *Nylon*, *the Guardian*, *Business of Fashion*, and The Cut. She appeared on the cover of *Highsnobiety* in April 2018. In February 2018, Miquela did an Instagram takeover for Prada as part of Milan Fashion Week. On May 16, she did a Calvin Klein ad with Bella Hadid, in which both were animated.

In April 2018, a second, similar character known as Bermuda "hacked" into Miquela's account, deleting all photos of Miquela and replacing them with photos of herself. Miquela and Bermuda were then revealed to both be characters created by Trevor McFedries and Sara Decou of Brud. The two online personas then began posting pictures together, and eventually the account was again run by Miquela's team. This narrative positioned Miquela as a social justice activist, something considered problematic when seen in tandem with her use as a marketing tool. after this, Miquela and Bermuda became a best friends.

## Trivia

* Miquela calls her fans "Miqaliens".
* She likes wearing baggy, rapper clothes, but she also doesn’t mind Coachella-style looks.
* She’s into fashion as much as cosplay.
* She’s self-conscious and doesn’t take herself too seriously, joking on her nature and weirdnesses.
* She has a big dream worth fighting for: making it in Spotify’s A-list with her trap/electronic songs.
* She likes hanging out with her pals, both human and bots. Speaking of which, her two best friends are *Blawko* and *Bermuda*, both A.I. influencers with a large following themselves. But she shares the screen with flesh-and-bone influencers too, such as J Balvin, Diplo and Samantha Urbani.

## Net Worth

Miquela even uses her influence to support social causes such as, but not limited to, Black Lives Matter, Campaign for Youth Justice, and the Los Angeles LGBT Center. She was named in TIME magazine's The 25 Most Influential People on the Internet (2018), and she has a “net worth” of at least $125 million.

## External Links

 lilmiquela on Instagram

 lilmiquela on Twitter

## YouTube Channels

* Miquela {Wiki Page}
* Miquela - Topic {Wiki Page}