Josie Balka went viral on TikTok after posting a video of her reading original poetry.Ashley Jackson/Supplied
Josie Balka has always felt the urge to openly express her deepest feelings.
For a while, songwriting was her preferred medium. She began posting her original music on TikTok in 2020 and regularly garnered a thousand-or-so views on her videos. Then, in 2023, she decided on a whim to write a poem instead.
“I wrote about how I had a month left until my twenties were over and I put it up online,” said Balka, who was born in Toronto and now lives in Calgary. “It did better than anything I would usually post.”
Not long after that, she saw the Barbie movie and was inspired to write another poem. Balka recorded herself reciting it, posted it on social media and watched it quickly go viral, receiving more than 100,000 likes and hundreds of comments from viewers who said they felt seen by her words.
Today, Balka has nearly 90,000 Instagram followers and almost 100,000 followers on TikTok. Whether she’s speaking about body image, relationships or mental health, her signature style of raw, vulnerable writing consistently highlights intimate yet universal experiences, particularly for women. Social media users frequently comment that they need a tissue after watching her videos.
“There’s really nothing like getting stopped in your tracks by something you relate to,” she said.
@josiebalka If you know, you know #turning30 #birthday ♬ Stories 2 - Danilo Stankovic
Balka’s first poetry collection, I Hope You Remember, was published in May, 2025, not even two years after her first viral video. It became an instant New York Times bestseller.
On Dec. 9, Balka’s second book of poetry was published. Called Loves of Our Lives, the collection features more than 80 poems about the different types of love.
The Globe and Mail talked to Balka about her new book, her unique style and what helps her write so candidly about the human experience.
Your poetry isn’t traditional. How did you develop your unique writing style?
People call it TikTok poetry because it’s not really poetry, it’s more like prose. I try to make it so that anybody could read it and know exactly what it means. I just want people to fully be able to follow it from beginning to end. If you don’t relate to it, it’s not because you didn’t understand what I wrote, it’s because you haven’t been through it.
Your first book looked at a variety of complex human experiences. What can readers expect from the new book?
This one is more focused. It’s about the different loves you’ll experience in your life, cut up into different chapters. The sections are romantic love, friendship love, lost love, family love, toxic love and self love.
At pretty much any given time, everyone is dealing with something that has to do with love, whether it be positive or negative. My hope is that this book has something everyone can relate to.
Your writing is honest and open. Are you like that in your real life?
I always say what I’m thinking. In many situations in my life, it would’ve helped me to be a little more calculated and held back.
But for the first time in my life, the most success I’ve ever had is from not thinking and just saying how I feel. When you don’t take the time to overthink it, you say it exactly like it is and that’s how I want it to come out: in a very relatable, universal way.
You developed a following by recording yourself reading your poetry aloud. Why do you think your work resonates so well in this format?
I think music has a lot to do with it. Music fuels so much emotion. I make 90 per cent of the music myself with a little piano keyboard that plugs directly into my Mac. I record the voice and then I put on headphones and I score the video.
I do worry about whether my work will resonate when people read it as much as when they listen to it, but I’m hoping people might be able to hear so much of it online that they can read it in the same cadence and hear it in my voice.
Loves of Our Lives by Balka hit the shelves on Tuesday.Supplied
One of the things people say about your work is how shocked they are to hear someone articulate something they thought was unique to them, and it gives them comfort. How does that feel?
I don’t know if people realize, but every time somebody comments that they can relate, it also makes me feel less alone. When you feel things in such a big way, you often think something’s wrong with you. But it’s just that nobody’s saying out loud that they’re still thinking about these things that happened to them a long time ago.
What’s it like to write about heartbreak while you’re happily in love?
I got married a couple weeks ago and I’m writing about guys that broke my heart 10 years ago and sometimes I think, “I hope people don’t think it’s crazy that I still think about that.”
I hope people can understand that two things can be true at once. I can be so in love and happy and be in a great marriage and be so excited about this beautiful chapter in my life, and still be reflecting on things that happened before.
What do you hope to leave people with after they read your new book?
I want people to feel aware of how much you go through as a person and how this one emotion can feel so many different ways. It can be so positive and it can also be the worst thing you ever go through. It can make you and completely break you, and it’s all the same thing – it’s all love.
This interview has been edited and condensed.