The Beaches Are Hoping For An Off Campus Cameo Next

The Beaches did not expect to become Off Campus fans. Most of the rock quartet had never heard of the popular book series — other than lead singer Jordan Miller, who had previously “dipped a toe into the romance genre.” So when they got an inside scoop that they were getting a shoutout in the Prime Video show, which came out May 13, the group didn’t think too much of it. “I don’t think any one of us could have predicted for it to impact us the way that it has,” Miller tells Elite Daily. “For “Edge of the Earth” to have this big second life has been so incredible and awesome.”

For those uninitiated into the Off Campus universe, here’s the scoop: the Canadian pop group plays an unexpectedly major role in Garrett Graham and Hannah Wells’ budding romance, when she introduces him to their music by saying their Coachella set would change his life. He later queues up “Edge of the Earth,” a track from their 2023 album Blame My Ex, on a bus ride as he contemplates his feelings for her… which ultimately leads to the duo falling in love.

It turns out that life-changing moment went beyond the world of the show. The scene has led to a massive spike in followers and streams for The Beaches — on May 27, the group hit 1.7 million streams across all platforms, tripling their typical daily listening numbers. They’ve also gained 50,000 Instagram followers since the show came out. “We're charting on the Shazam list worldwide, which has been a dream of mine,” jokes guitarist Leandra Earl. “It’s insane,” adds drummer Eliza Enman-McDaniel. “Our manager hasn't slept for 12 days because she's so excited. She'll get up in the middle of the night and check all the stats.”

The group is having fun embracing the hype, posting reels and TikToks welcoming their newfound BookTok fan base into the fold. Their next pitch is to make a cameo in Off Campus Season 2, which starts filming this summer. “It would be crazy to have a feature on the show,” Enman-McDaniel says. Earl adds, “I just think we were such a main plot point for Hannah and Garrett falling in love that we need to meet. And yes, they have a non-binary character, but they need a lesbian in there.”

Below, The Beaches share more about their upcoming festival sets, opening for Louis Tomlinson’s tour this summer, and embracing fan culture.

ED: What was your initial reaction to seeing Off Campus — and your song “Edge of the Earth” — blowing up?

Jordan Miller: Everybody was getting so excited about the show and kept bringing up to us that it was a big deal, and we kept being like, “Yeah, we'll see.” Then all of a sudden it all happened and we were like, “Oh man, everyone did try to tell us.”

Leandra Earl: I’ve just been checking all the stats and seeing who’s finding out about our band. All my group chats have been going crazy because this feels like such an unreal time in our lives. It's so cool to connect with the music industry in a TV show — this just feels like a really big pop culture moment.

Eliza Enman-McDaniel: Whoever picked the music for that show did such an amazing job because there are so many cool artists in there, like our friend G Flip.

LE: I just love that it's hockey bros and their girls having sex, but with the gayest songs over top of it. I’m like, “F*ck yeah.”

ED: You guys have leaned all the way into this viral moment with your content. Where did the instinct to play along like that come from?

LE: I think we’ve gotten good at the social media and TikTok game of it all from “Blame Brett” going viral [in 2023]. I saw a comment yesterday about how all we’re doing is posting about Off Campus, but why wouldn’t we? It’s changing our lives. Why would we ignore that?

ED: You even referenced Hannah and Garrett’s scene in your F1 set. Are you going to keep doing that in future shows?

LE: I think so.

JM: If we don’t get in trouble, yeah.

LE: No, we're not going to because Amazon commented and they loved it. I’m excited to do that a couple more times. I had the thought yesterday of, when do we stop? I don’t want to.

JM: We’ll know when to stop. It’ll be obvious because people will audibly groan in the audience.

ED: You also have No Hard Feelings (Deluxe) out June 5 with new songs like “Should've Known Better.” What do these additions say that the original album didn't?

EEM: Well, there was a new breakup that happened, so we tacked on that whole story of Leandra's experience.

JM: It's always difficult figuring out which songs are going to make the actual album, and sometimes you have to make really painful decisions. A deluxe can be a great opportunity to highlight the tracks that didn’t make the initial cut. There are a couple songs like that in the album. I find them to be nice bridges in between two projects to give fans a little something — a little gossip, a little tea, a little bit of an idea of where we might be going next musically.

We're known as the party girls of the indie music scene, and we wear that title with pride, but it's nice when we can show that we're also incredibly sensitive and vulnerable.

ED: Does that mean we’re getting hints about what will come next after this?

JM: We're still figuring it out. We've been working on new music over the last month. We want to make this next record a little different than the last two. “Should've Known Better” is a very romantic song, even though it's about a breakup, and I will leave that as the hint for where we want to go with our next project.

ED: Which of the new songs are you most excited to play for people this summer?

JM: I love playing “Should’ve Known Better,” especially the bridge, which feels very anthemic. It's a little bit slower than some of our other songs. We're known as the party girls of the indie music scene, and we wear that title with pride, but it's nice when we can show that we're also incredibly sensitive and vulnerable. It's really special, and it creates a nice moment in the set.

ED: When you do a festival, or opening for another artist like Louis Tomlinson, what does that pull out of you that a standalone show doesn’t?

EEM: With festivals, there’s an opportunity to bring in new fans that may not have heard of you. There’s also a little more added pressure because you're doing your best to draw people in, whereas with a headlining show, everyone’s there for you. I would compare a festival slot similar to an opening slot, like what we're going to do on Louis’ tour, where you have to work extra hard.

LE: It reminds me of the early days and the nerves of going on stage to try to win over a crowd. Sometimes you get so used to rolling with a headlining tour where everyone is there for you, and it's a great feeling, but I like the challenge of winning people over.

ED: Between Off Campus and opening for Louis Tomlinson, you're walking into some seriously devoted fandoms this year. What's it been like stepping into the wider One Direction fan universe?

LE: I love it because I grew up being one of these fans, but for the Jonas Brothers. So I get fandom behavior and it's a little wacky, but it also makes our industry go ‘round. We need it. As soon as we got the tour, it was really fun to make TikToks specifically for “The Louies.” They welcomed us with open arms.

ED: I do have to ask which Jonas brother’s camp you were in.

LE: Speaking of camp, Kylie was in Camp Rock 2.

Kylie Miller: They didn't ask me back for the third, though.

LE: OK, you mean which brother. I was a die-hard Nick girl, but now I'm a Joe woman.

EEM: I was always a diehard Joe girl.

ED: What's Louis been like to work with?

JM: I met him at Coachella. So far it's been really cool, and he's posted a bunch of stuff about us and shouted us out in a bunch of interviews. We're excited to see what his fans are like, and hopefully they like our show.

ED: Would you guys do any 1D covers?

LE: He would probably hate that, us on stage playing “What Makes You Beautiful.” And then that's the end of The Beaches for this tour.

JM: I think he's really excited to showcase the new direction — there you go — for what he's making, because his new stuff is a little bit of a divergence from what they did with One Direction. I think he would want us to showcase that sort of stuff, and that's what we’ll do.

LE: We’re just honored that he asked us to do this big tour with him.

ED: Last question: For Garrett Graham and anyone else who hasn't heard of The Beaches until now, where should people start?

KM: Start with Blame My Ex and then work your way back.

LE: Once you like us, then you can dive into the rockier, older stuff that we’ve done.

KM: Yeah, exactly. Blame My Ex encapsulates our sound so well, and I think that's why this song is blowing up on the show. And now people are going through the discography and falling in love with the band. It’s really amazing to see a new generation of young listeners.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.