Favourite Cardin gets Junos rolling
Montreal musician clinches pop album, single of the year awards at pre-telecast
Pop singer-songwriter Charlotte Cardin is leading the early winners as the pre-telecast Juno Awards got underway in Toronto.
The Montreal musician grabbed two awards at the industry ceremony: pop album of the year for her chart-topping “Phoenix” and single of the year for the pulsing burner “Meaningless.”
The singer accepted her second award with wide eyes and a moment of pause where she praised her fellow single of the year nominees, which included superstars The Weeknd and Justin Bieber.
Cardin is the leading six-time nominee at the Junos this year, which began handing out awards at the so-called “opening night” ceremony on Saturday before Sunday’s telecast.
Other early winners included Montreal’s Kaytranada, born Louis Celestin, whose single “Caution” was named dance recording of the year, while Savannah Ré received traditional R&B/soul recording of the year for “24hrs.”
The Juno Awards broadcast airs from Toronto’s Budweiser Stage on Sunday, hosted by “Shang-Chi” star Simu Liu. In 2021, Cardin’s debut album, “Phoenix,” made her the first Canadian female artist to spend two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Canadian album chart since Quebec’s renowned diva Cé- line Dion, in September 2016.
“When I was three years old, I was trying to sing like Céline Dion, to
mimic her,” the 27-year-old said previously.
“She really has been my biggest idol throughout my life. So, it’s crazy to see that we have certain milestones in common.”
Cardin started to make her way across the music industry in 2013 after landing in the top four of Quebec’s version of the singing competition series “The Voice.”
She then quit her modelling career, which had provided her paycheque since she was 15, and went full force into discovering herself as an artist.
Her first EP “Big Boy,” released in 2016, was a six-track record with a slow and soulful vibe. It was followed a year later by another fourtrack EP “Main Girl” infused with pop and jazz influences, before a stretch of relative silence.