Danupha Khanatheerakul, better known as MILLI, is a dynamic rapper and singer from Thailand. Her rapid rise to prominence started when she was featured on The Rapper 2 TV show in 2019 with unique performances that kept audiences rapt by her energy and presence. Since then, MILLI has put out music in English and Thai and was featured at Coachella in a now-iconic performance that caused mango sticky rice sales to skyrocket. She’s even had legal challenges when speaking her mind. At the age of only 22, MILLI’s fearless commitment to authenticity has made her a leading voice among the youth in Thailand.

MILLI is on a mission to let others experience the rich culture and traditions of Thailand through her music and straight-up sass. From being in a girl group to writing aggressive music because she’s obsessed with boxing, MILLI tells it all as this month’s coverstar at LiFTED.

As a female rapper, there are some things we can’t talk about. Female rappers don’t look as cool as guys saying, f*ck or b*tch or I f*ck your mom. This means we need to try harder and work harder and we need to have more than skill. We have to be able to dance, have a pretty face, and be able to rap. I feel sad that we have to do all this, but I just want to speak up for women.

It was a really good time and I learned a lot about myself. Everyone who came to the competition already had their own style, but I was still discovering myself and improving my skills so I could compete with others. I was a student back then, so it was a tough time, but I felt like a super woman during that time. Overall it was fun and I learned a lot.

At the time when I was invited to Coachella 2022, I said no. I felt like I didn’t deserve it. 88rising had a meeting to pump me up and tell me that I should do it. Then, I talked to my friend and he said imagine when you are a mother and you can tell your kids that you performed at Coachella. BRO! That was cool as f*ck. I wouldn’t be going there to just watch but to be a performer. Who knows if I would ever have that opportunity again. So I decided to go.

The performance went well but I felt like everything was in slow motion. I felt like I rapped so slow, but thankfully it was on beat. I never expected to be on such a big stage as Coachella.

After the show, I caught Doja Cat, Baby Keem with Kendrick Lamar as a surprise, and Run The Jewels. I gained a lot of experience from Coachella. It helped me learn how to improve my skill, my set, and my performance.

I was super proud that mango stick rice sales went up. A fun fact is that some sellers sent me DMs saying thank you for raising our business. Now, everywhere I go in Thailand they serve me mango sticky rice for free. I’m afraid of getting diabetes, but I’m so happy about that.

‘อนาคตคือ’ in Thai means ‘what is the future.’ This song is about teenagers who question the future if they cannot speak for themselves. The key point of the song is if we don’t have free speech, what is going to happen to us? I love this question and the audience can figure out their own answer by themselves. I love the music video, too, and YOUNGOHM is a really incredible artist.

Back at that time, I spoke up about the political situation. This song expressed my feelings about that incident.

DREAMGALS happened because I saw a video of Flower.far and GALCHANIE singing together. I sent my label YUPP! a message in the group chat saying they should do something official together but to please include me in that, too. So they got back to me with the project Dreamgirls but we changed it to the more modern, slangy DREAMGALS.

Writing with two girls is kind of hard but it’s fun at the same time. We are all solo artists and have the same tastes but different ways to show it. The greatest thing is that we fix each other's weaknesses. Like me. I have a problem with singing flat so Flower.far helps me with my notes and writes amazing melodies. I’m good with rapping, so I’m the one who writes those lyrics. GALCHANIE is very talented at writing music. She’s not afraid to use the words with the melodies. In Thai, we have different tones that change the definition of the words totally. So GALCHANIE is the one who gets the words to fit into the melodies and still makes it art. I love working with her.

This project is really fun for me, but it’s hard, too. The hardest thing is we are solo artists and have to perform as a girl group. Everything like dancing and expressions has to be the same in girl groups. That’s the hardest part of us, but we’ve been through it and hope everyone likes it.

It’s not on purpose. Actually, I’m really into Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, fighting, and boxing. I’m so in love with boxing that I have my own gym, Rope a Dope Boxing Gym. I’m obsessed with boxing so I made a song. The hook just comes from boxing combos. The reason it’s aggressive is because the song is about a female fighter. We have to prove that we are good or better than the guys. So this is my aggressive side.

I am fully Thai. I was born in Thailand, raised in Thailand, and my family is Thai. So all the culture, traditions, languages, and dialects are inside of me. I don’t want or need to escape it. My Thainess is expressed in every song I do. I think everyone can learn some cultures and traditions of Thailand by listening to my songs. I’m very proud to be Thai.

I would love to say that no one is responsible for speaking out, but it depends on the person. If you want to do it, just do it. For me, I’m part of the population in Thailand. I’m just a human. This is the life that I’m going to live. If I have a family in the future, my kids are going to live in this country, too, so I just want to make it better if I can. Since I live in this country, I know the weaknesses, so I’m going to speak about that to improve it so we can develop. As an artist, I know my words have power. My voice is louder than other people. If I don’t speak out, I’m going to regret it in the future because I want to fight for myself and my family. But you have to be careful with the power of speech and be responsible.

Oh my gosh. There are tons of artists I want to work with. Let me see. BewhY from Korea is the god. He’s super good. Awich from Japan. VannDa from Cambodia. Rich Brian from Indonesia. He’s my best friend so we should have a song.

I have an album that I am cooking in the kitchen and it’s almost ready to serve, so be careful because it’s hot, baby.