CJ WILEY RETURNS WITH THE NEW EP, JUST CAN’T QUIT, OUT SEPTEMBER 9, 2026
LISTEN / SHARE “pet” HERE
BUY / STREAM “pet” HERE
PRE-SAVE JUST CAN’T QUIT HERE
PRE-ORDER JUST CAN’T QUIT EP VIA BANDCAMP HERE
“backporch” is a snapshot of what it feels like to fall in love with a brand new to you person. Sonically, the song feels like it belongs under twinkling lights at twilight in an era overrun with Delia’s catalogues and Bonne Bell Dr. Pepper Lipsmackers. The chorus swells and breaks like the tide on the beach with its sharp infusion of ’90s alt rock and pop. CJ Wiley’s “backporch” is gooey and bright in all of the ways you want a love song like this to be, and, honestly, may make you put butterfly clips in your hair. SOCAN Magazine, ‘Song of the Week, “backporch”
Photo Credit: Stella Gigliotti // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Today, CJ Wiley is sharing another track from their upcoming EP, Just Can’t Quit. “Pet” is about “the vulnerabilities of fully committing to another person and still craving affection despite both your flaws,” explains Wiley. “There comes a point in a relationship where you've seen every side of each other, the good, the bad, and everything in between, but you still need reassurance to know you're accepted and loved anyway.”
LISTEN / SHARE “pet” HERE
BUY / STREAM “pet” HERE
MORE ABOUT JUST CAN’T QUIT
Just Can’t Quit “reflects the lifecycle of a relationship and the idea that no matter how many times love kicks our ass, we always go back for more,” says Wiley. “Like some beautiful masochistic ritual we can't get enough of. Every love is different. Hits different, hurts different. I'm a very romantic writer and honestly useless without a muse. I wanted to capture what that feels like.”
Previous single “backporch” is about the honeymoon period and trying to slow it down to just share a moment of bliss, while “fluke” which is a song for the initial crush. The last song “wasp” talks about how breakups lead to estrangement, and when there’s no contact, things feel like it’s all rupture and no repair.
LISTEN / SHARE “backporch” HERE
BUY / STREAM “backporch” HERE
MORE ABOUT CJ WILEY
Already a mainstay in Canada’s music scene having opened for artists like Tokyo Police Club, Boy Golden, US Girls, Juliana Riolino and performed at festivals like Mariposa Folk Fest, Super Crawl Riverfest Elora and Tiny Lights.
They’ve also staked their claim as a leader in the queer community as the host of the Big Gay Night concert series as well as with their performances at Pride Toronto (2022, 2023 & 2025).
2025 marked the release of So Brand New, Wiley’s debut full length LP. The artist sojourned to Winnipeg to record with Boy Golden and that polished western resonance is obvious from the album’s first blasts. It’s a passionate, tongue-in-cheek statement of certainty in themselves, a down-and-dirty roots-rock revelation that burns in a firestorm of its own conviction. Wiley sings of starting fresh, loss, gender, and how expensive it is to be alive, carving out a decisive path for themselves on a highway into and over the horizon — and they’re bringing you with them.
WATCH / SHARE “FLUKE” HERE
BUY / STREAM “FLUKE” HERE
In support of So Brand New, they not only played shows across Canada but also ventured to the UK for The Great Escape and FOCUS Wales as their first international run of shows.
Tearing through Toronto on a groundswell of gripping indie pop and slacker rock, non-binary singer-songwriter CJ Wiley doesn’t waste any time. Twirling guitars, a steady drum beat, crunchy bass; ballads twanged slightly country, anthems skewed slightly grunge; a message of love and anger, healing and rancour, Wiley’s musical project is urgent and undeniable.
PRAISE FOR CJ WILEY
“CJ Wiley keeps things simple in order to get complex. Warm guitars, steady drums and lively bass — sometimes that's all you need to start a fire. Wiley's Boy Golden-produced debut lights all kinds of fires, an ever-shifting document of change and renewal” Exclaim!
“Songs about friendship are criminally underrated. “You still call me up when my heart is burning / To calm me down with a midnight sermon,” Toronto alt-country singer CJ Wiley sings on “Adelaide,” a remarkable song about chosen family, and “choosing to love and grow together instead of growing apart. Wiley’s debut album, “So Brand Now,” is filled with striking songs about love, identity and acceptance” The Toronto Star
CJ WILEY LIVE
August 16 - Toronto, ON | Wavelength Summer Thing
JUST CAN’T QUIT TRACKLIST
01 fluke
02 backporch
03 pet
04 wasp