The Beaches

artist bio

The Beaches are doing everything their way. After more than a decade together as a band, sisters Jordan Miller (lead vocals, bass) and Kylie Miller (guitar) plus closest friends Leandra Earl (guitar and keys) and Eliza Enman-McDaniel (drums) are entering a new era. On new album Blame My Ex, the Juno Award-winning Toronto band channels heartbreak into self-discovery through 10 exuberant songs that revel in pain and redemption, finding strength, independence, and self-love. The result is an album of emotive transformation rendered in playful and passionate power pop. Blame My Ex is “the most authentic and real” version of The Beaches, Kylie says. Lead single “Blame Brett,” an acerbic pop-rock knockout Jordan calls “a song for all the hot messes out there,” has racked up more than 8.5 million streams on Spotify and more than 7.4 million views on TikTok. Blame My Ex, executive produced and co-written by Lowell (Madison Beer) and co-produced by Gus van Go (Metric), is no ordinary breakup record. It’s about the love that comes out of separations: the love of friendships, of bandmates, of yourself. It’s not about finding happiness because of heartbreak, as Jordan puts it: “It’s finding happiness despite it.” It’s about rediscovery, being on the precipice of something new, which is true for The Beaches in their personal lives as much as their music. “Even though we’ve been doing this for a long time, it feels like the beginning,” Kylie says. Excited by current pop vocalists like Olivia Rodrigo and MUNA, and drawing from classic New Wave influences like Depeche Mode and New Order, The Beaches leaned into ebullient, stretchy sounds. The songs on Blame My Ex are as danceable as they are emotional. This is the quartet at their most real, most earnest, and most fun. Following a series of breakups—including a split from a major label they were signed to in their early teens—The Beaches are now free to make music that feels true to themselves. A period of uncertainty provided the perfect opportunity. Early in the pandemic, the band started experimenting with social media—TikTok and Instagram in particular—showing fans a more vulnerable, goofy, and down-to-earth side, referring to themselves affectionately and openly as “ur grls.” These new connections are part of what made the infectious “Blame Brett” such a sensation. Jordan wrote the song by way of “apologizing to my current partners for being a little bit of a piece of shit after a breakup.” The band’s particular brand of humor is evident in the lyrics: “I’m sorry in advance, I’m only gonna treat you bad / I’m probably gonna let you down, I’m probably gonna sleep around.” Working with Lowell and Gus Van Go was extraordinarily collaborative. “The room was open to any idea,” says Leandra. “It was very supportive. We wrote all the songs cheering each other on.” That kind of synergetic studio environment was new for the band, which Eliza found a bit scary at first. “It felt like everything was up to us and we had nothing to lean on,” she recalls. “Which was good, because that’s how you do your best work: when you’re pushed.” Finding self-love out of struggle is how Blame My Ex came about in the first place. It started with the jangly and aching “If a Tree Falls,” the first of the breakup songs, which became the thematic North Star around which the other tracks were built. The dark, breathy, and echoing “Everything Is Boring” is hyper-honest about depression: It sounds like a rainy night out. And it led The Beaches to create Blame My Ex’s sonic mood: new wave-tinged indie pop that’s sparkling, misty, and powerful. While the band members dig into their rawest feelings, they maintain their signature snark and quirks. Jordan’s lyrical powers are at their height with lines like “No Bumble, just organically / What is this, 1993?” from the gritty, appropriately ’90s-vibed “Kismet.” “My Body Ft Your Lips,” a duet with Nick from Beach Weather, includes the slinky provocation of a chorus: “I wanna be your bitch / I wanna taste your spit.” Key track “Me & Me,” a high-energy song about learning to fall back in love with yourself, opens with the bitingly funny “I know a girl who spent a year and a half crying in the bottom of a bathtub / It was really such a bad look” and ends with “I don’t care, get out my face if you don’t like it,” the record’s narrative arc encapsulated. Blame My Ex showcases The Beaches at their most accomplished and mature, sonically and lyrically, and boasts Jordan’s finest vocal performances yet. “This is the first record I’ve ever done working with a producer who really cares and is engaged with me as a singer,” she says. You can hear the range of emotions in her voice like crystal—from pain and sadness to anger and triumph. Blame My Ex, she says, is a “diary of what it’s like to go through heartbreak: One day you’re avoiding the pain and going out and partying a lot—and the next you’re trapped in your room, facing your feelings, having an anxiety attack.” Two of the album’s songs are especially important to Jordan. “Edge of the Earth” is about an addictive, fiery romance. “Turn me around / Right upside down / Spin me like a globe and drop your finger on me,” she sings. “It’s the first time I’ve ever been very candid about my sexuality in terms of my queerness with my lyrics,” she says. “I’m proud of those. And they showcase new relationships that I’ve been entering since my breakup.” So, too, with the smoky, pulsing finale, “Cigarette,” one of the clearest signs of the band’s new wave influence. The hugely sexy song is full of the thrill of new relationships—both new partners and new selves. By ending on a note of excitement and euphoria, The Beaches close their new chapter with the opening of another one. “We’re growing and finding different things out about ourselves,” says Leandra. “And we’re doing it together as four best friends who are there to support each other.” Their unyielding bond and shared journey not only makes The Beaches a musical force to be reckoned with but also a testament to the power of sisterhood and friendship. How could you not be obsessed?