Moncton singer-songwriter Julie Doiron is a venerable CanCon legend, dating back to the early '90s when she was the bassist for Eric's Trip. She had been dating one of her bandmates at around that time — and, on their way home from tour, they decided to break up, inspiring Doiron's song "August 10," which would go on to appear on her 1996 album Broken Girl.
Nearly 30 years later, that song has ascended to new heights thanks to going viral on TikTok, with over 30,000 videos having been made on the platform using the song, not including the multitude of cover versions of "August 10" that have also been uploaded on the app.
Likewise, this has prompted a huge streaming boost for the song, which is Doiron's most-streamed track on Spotify with over 41,500,000 plays to its name. In a new interview with CBC, the artist revealed that it was one of her daughters who pointed to the newfound prominence of "August 10" on TikTok.
"Mom, I think maybe one of your songs is starting to go viral," Doiron's daughter Rose told her last November. "I didn't even tell my management team for the first week or so," the musician reflected in conversation with journalist Hannah Ruddenham. "I just didn't want anyone to mess with it. I just wanted to see what would happen kind of naturally."
Based on the renewed interested, her team are now planning a new expanded anniversary vinyl release for Broken Girl — as well as Doiron's sophomore album, 1997's Loneliest in the Morning. She noted to Ruddenham that the majority of the people streaming "August 10" are between the ages of 18 and 24, and she was 21 when she wrote it.
"I think that 21-year-old Julie, when she would have been writing these songs, I mean, she had to write them," Doiron said. "That's part of how you get to the next place in your life — is letting that stuff out and letting it go."
Revisit "August 10" below.