Junos mix in a few surprises on noms list
Absence of Drake, superstars gives everyone else a shot
Arcade Fire got a lot of love for its most divisive album, Jessie Reyez moved into position as the Canadian music industry’s next officially ordained pop starlet and there were more than a few uncharacteristically hip names in the mix as the 2018 Juno Awards nominees were announced in Toronto on Tuesday morning.
The Montreal art-rock troupe and Toronto native Reyez were tied with four nominations each, while the late Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie, Hamilton’s Arkells, Edmonton singer/songwriter Ruth B and perennially nominated Vancouver sorta-punk outfit Hedley — who really must have nude photos of someone in the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences stashed away somewhere — all came in close behind with three nods apiece.
The Fire is up for Group of the Year, Single of the Year for “Everything Now,” and Album of the Year and Alternative Album of the Year for the album of the same name — a record that met with some unusually harsh reviews by Arcade Fire standards upon its release last year. R&B songstress Reyez, meanwhile, will compete for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year for Kiddo, Music Video of the Year for “Gatekeeper,” Breakthrough Artist of the Year and the viewer-voted Juno Fan Choice Award.
Hedley aside and the presence of such superstars as Shania Twain, The Weeknd, Nickelback and Michael Bublé — who will host the CBC’s Juno broadcast from Vancouver on March 25 — here and there notwithstanding, there was a refreshing lack of the usual Juno suspects in the mix, even in the big categories.
Ruth B, for instance, managed to muscle her way into the Album of the Year category with Safe Haven alongside Everything Now, Bublé’s Nobody But Me, Johnny Reid’s Revival and Twain’s Now. Artist of the Year is most respectable, with Lights, Toronto R&B sensation Daniel Caesar and Ruth B rubbing shoulders with Downie and Twain. Group of the Year pits Toronto indie faves Broken Social Scene and Alvvays, Ottawa dance trio-turned-duo A Tribe Called Red against Arcade Fire and Hedley.
Even Single of the Year isn’t a totally obvious field this year, mingling “Everything Now,” Shawn Mendes’s “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back,” The Weeknd and Daft Punk’s “I Feel it Coming,” newly minted Grammy star Alessia Cara’s “How Far I’ll Go” with the Arkells’ “Knocking at the Door.”
“The song gods were smiling when they offered up ‘Knocking at the Door,’ ” said Arkells frontman Max Kerman, reached via text. “It’s made the last year of touring so much fun. I’m glad it exists.”
The diminished presence of typical Juno names such as Justin Bieber, Céline Dion and Drake — who apparently didn’t submit this year, no doubt because the Junos consistently fail to give him a trophy in any of the big categories — left room for lots of new blood on the nominees list: Toronto punk noisemakers METZ’s Strange Peace in the Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year field; Iqaluit folk-rockers the Jerry Cans and the Beaches on the Breakthrough Group of the Year list; Toronto folkpop act the Weather Station’s eponymous 2017 LP in Contemporary Roots Album of the Year; long-lived Toronto ensemble Do Make Say Think up for Instrumental Album of the Year for Stubborn Persistent Illusions; and lovable Hamilton rock chick Terra Lightfoot in the running for Adult Alternative Album of the Year for New Mistakes.
“I’m definitely shocked,” Lightfoot said. “Honoured to be recognized for all the hard work we put into this record and I’m chuffed to be alongside such amazing musicians in my category.”
Performers on the March 25 broadcast will include Reyez, Caesar and Hedley, while a tribute to Downie is also planned.
During Tuesday’s announcement, Junos/CARAS president Allan Reid also vowed to make up for past criticisms that the Canadian music industry suffers from a lack of female representation — last year’s nominations spawned the Twitter hashtag #JunosSoMale — and apologized for some off-colour remarks made by last year’s host, Russell Peters, that left a bad taste in many mouths. Peters came under fire for calling Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly “hot” and making jokes that critics said sexualized women. Junos organizers later apologized and said they did not “in any way support, nor did we sanction, the off-script remarks.”
“There are very important conversations happening in our world right now around gender equality and sexual harassment,” Reid said. “It is critical that we work collectively as an industry to support a larger representation of women in music and encourage a culture that nurtures their participation and success.”