The Beaches’ Jordan Miller on How Lana Del Rey, Angel Olsen and More Helped Inspire New Heartbreak Album ‘Blame My Ex’ (Exclusive)

Jordan Miller of the all-female Canadian rock band, The Beaches, had to tap into a different part of her voice to "convey the experience of heartbreak" on the group's second full-length album, Blame My Ex. And thanks to inspiration from artists like Lana Del Ray and Angel Olsen, the frontwoman was able to do so, she exclusively told The Messenger. 

"For this record in particular, we listened to a lot of new wave music – New Order, The Cure – because sonically, that has a lot of happy-sad feelings when you listen to it, and I really wanted to take that sort of sound and apply it to a heartbreak record," she explained. 

Miller continued: "In terms of contemporary artists who I really listened to for homework, especially with what I wanted to do with my voice, our producers made me listen to Girl in Red, Lana Del Rey, Angel Olsen – a lot of female singers who have really unique voices who are able to convey intense emotional experiences through vibrato and through kind of these guttural things they do with their voices. Because I had never really tried to do that before on any of our other records. And it was really important that I was able to convey the experience of heartbreak just through singing alone."

The Beaches vocalist and bassist also told The Messenger about her writing process for the band's latest release, which is based largely on her own experience of going through a breakup. 

"I found a lot of breakup albums, or at least contemporary ones, are about a relationship that's ending, like before the breakup actually happens," she said. "And to me, what was more interesting was to write about what happens after the breakup – the sort of loneliness, the grief, but also the redemption that people go through finding themselves again."

Miller and her bandmates – sister Kylie Miller, Leandra Earl and Eliza Enman-McDaniels – are gearing up for their North American headlining tour set to kick off in October. Nearly all of the shows are already sold out. 

"Touring is probably our collective favorite thing to do as a band. Writing is a great, wonderful experience and it's kind of like therapy, but I think all of us, in our heart of hearts, are performers," Miller admitted before detailing how their forthcoming tour will be different from the ones they've done in the past. 

"This album is a little bit more different and a little bit more earnest and sadder than our other records, so it's gonna feel a little more down-to-earth than some of our pieces we've put out," she continued. "There's still going to be elaborate jumping and high kicks, and people will dance – but they're also going to cry during this tour, too."

Blame My Ex is out now and can be streamed on music platforms.