The Beaches' Viral Breakup Rock Tunes Hit the Summit

"I wouldn't let me near your friends, I wouldn't let me near your dad, but don't blame me, blame Brett," sings Jordan Miller, vocalist for Canadian rock band the Beaches, in the song "Blame Brett." The bitter breakup track went viral on TikTok in May 2023 and was the linchpin for the group's rise in national popularity, catapulting the ten-year-old band to rock-star status overnight.

Although "Blame Brett" is notorious for calling out Jordan's ex (Brett Emmons from the Glorious Sons), the band's guitarist, Kylie Miller, and keyboard player Leandra Earl were also hit with sudden heartbreak before the album was released in September 2023.

The album "was really a therapeutic release, because even though, at the time, the songs were just about Jordan's experiences, we were able to use them and take them as our own," Kylie shares. "Especially when it came to finally performing the album and being on the road with it. It felt like a really good experience to help us get over [the breakups]."

But dealing with the wreckage from multiple heartbreaks isn't a new scenario for the band. Although she is settled in a long-term relationship, drummer Eliza Enman-McDaniel is also used to weathering such tough situations alongside her bandmates; she grew up with Jordan and Kylie, and the Beaches name comes from the Toronto east-end neighborhood where they were raised. Before the four-piece began rocking out on stage in 2013, all of the members were co-conspirators, friends and classmates. For Jordan and Kylie, the ties run even deeper: The two aren't just friends and bandmates — they're also sisters.

"I think pretty fondly about the first tour we ever did across North America. It was the four of us and our tour manager in my dad's car, driving the entire time," Kylie recalls, sharing one of her favorite memories of the band. "We had some of our...biggest breakdowns, but it was so much fun and so rewarding, and I honestly can't believe we got through that and didn't kill each other."

As Kylie's anecdotes suggest, being so close-knit with the other members hasn't always been peaches and cream. "When we were in high school, dealing with breakups, dealing with friend problems — it was a lot," Kylie reflects. "We had all the same friends, so there was definitely some competitive stuff that was going on."

Just a few years ago, the band's now rock-solid foundation seemed to be crumbling. The Beaches, which signed with Universal Records in 2016, was dropped by the label as well as its U.S. agents in 2022. The group then ditched its managers, too. It was a period of total structural, and musical, rehaul.

"We were at a crossroads in terms of what we wanted to do next and felt like we were a bit stagnant. We had had some pretty good success in Canada, but we were having a really hard time breaking out of the scene here," Kylie says. "But we decided we'd just have to work harder...and basically take it up a notch."

Releasing music independently gave the group the chance to shift away from its predominantly older male audience and fulfill the members' ultimate goal: to write songs for other young women and adopt the grungy, alt-rock and powerful musical role that Avril Lavigne fulfilled in their youth.

That's when the group began utilizing TikTok, releasing behind-the-scenes footage of studio recording sessions and creatively teasing snippets of upcoming songs. Soon the videos reached international For You Pages and flooded the feeds of the band's new target audience, who became enthusiastic consumers of every previous album.

"Even last year, before Blame My Ex came out, we did a U.S. run, and we were playing at venues for maybe fifty people. Now we're playing to a thousand capacity and it's completely sold out," Kylie says. "Our older fans who we've had for a long time, they're still coming, but we have a lot of new younger fans who are really excited to be there, as well.

"I think the shift in our fan base is a great thing," she adds. "Everybody is included."

The Beaches played the first show of the Blame My Ex tour in London, Ontario, in 2023 before tearing through the rest of Canada, the United States and Europe. Now the band is back for a second stint in the U.S., which started in Seattle on February 15 and will carry the group to the Summit on Sunday, February 25.

While the instant fame has been overwhelming, it has also tightened the group's ties, drawing the best friends, confidantes and colleagues closer than ever.

"It was wild to be recognized out in Europe or out in America when we were touring," Kylie says. "But I'm so grateful that I have these three girls in my band. We all just keep each other grounded. ... You have someone to talk to who's going through the exact same thing as you are, and you're not alone. Honestly, that's the best thing about having these girls in the band with me."

The Beaches play at the Summit, 1902 Blake Street, 7 p.m. Sunday, February 25. Tickets are $56.