This week, Billboard Canada and iHeartRadio teamed up to present some big awards to some of Canada's leading groups.
On June 5, The Beaches were honored with their breakout year at Billboard Canada's Women in Music Awards, receiving their inaugural Group of the Year award. They also attended the announcement of Billboard Canada's Women in Music anniversary event, which will officially take place on September 7, 2024.
The award was presented by Billboard Canada CEO Amanda Drenberg and CCO Elizabeth Crisante, who also announced the date for the Billboard Canada Women in Music gala on September 7, where even more Canadian artists – including some industry legends – will be honoured for their artistry and pioneering achievements as women in the industry.
Accepting the award as part of iHeartRadio's livestreamed performance on YouTube, Beaches played a stripped-down set of three songs from their hit 2023 album, “Blame My Ex.” While rock groups typically feature two guitars, bass and drums, the acoustic Beaches saw drummer Eliza Enman McDaniel pick up just a shaker, leaving space for Jordan Miller's powerful lead vocals and the light-hearted harmonies of guitarists Leandra Earl and Kylie Miller.
Surrounded by a select group of industry insiders and contest winners, the band members and close friends performed buzzworthy singles “Blame Brett,” “What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Paranoid” and “Shower Beer,” all co-written by Billboard Canada's 2024 Non-Performing Songwriter Award winner Lowell.
After the performance, iHeartRadio's Shannon Burns held a Q&A with the group, joking about playing pool together and answering questions submitted by the audience. The band members spoke about their experiences as women in the music industry and offered advice to up-and-coming female artists.
“Make sure you do it with friends,” McDaniel said. The group spoke about how isolating it can be being women in an industry that, while slowly changing, is still male-dominated. They stressed the importance of surrounding yourself with women you can trust in your band or team.
They also spoke about how the industry is improving when it comes to gender balance. “When we started, there really weren't any all-girl groups, especially in rock,” singer Jordan Miller said. “Being in an all-girl group isn't necessarily something special anymore.”
This is a change from when the band was frequently referred to as a “girl band” – even creating cheeky merchandise using the term – “where I think we could do better is to be more inclusive of non-binary people and people of colour, to give them more of a voice and more opportunities for representation.”
Check out the full performance and interview below, and mark September 7th on your calendar.