Illustration by Cara Seccafien
Nominations for the 2018 Juno Awards
By Jerrison Oracion, Senior Columnist
The Juno Awards are coming back to Vancouver, marking the first time that the Junos will be here since 2009.
Burnaby’s own Michael Bublé will be hosting this year, and if you watched the previous times he hosted the Juno Awards, you can expect that he will do a great job this year. A lot of Canadian musicians are famous around the world today and the musicians who are nominated this year consist of both veterans and newcomers. The nominations of the Juno Awards were announced on February 6.
An important thing to know is that the nomination count below includes all the nominations, including the Fan Choice Award, and is therefore different from the official nomination count.
Jessie Reyez received the most nominations for her mini album Kiddo, with six nominations including Best Breakthrough Artist. You might have heard of Reyez when she performed in the pre-show of the Much Music Video Awards last year. She is also a prominent spokesperson for Roots, and is featured in many of their storefronts. Many people are saying that she is the next big thing in Canada.
The albums nominated for Best Album this year are Arcade Fire’s Everything Now, Johnny Reid’s Revival, Michael Bublé’s Nobody But Me, Ruth B’s Safe Haven, and Shania Twain’s comeback album Now. Everything Now and Daniel Caesar’s first album Freudian are tied for most nominations, with five each.
While Arcade Fire’s next album did not receive a lot of hype ast the time it was released, it would not be a surprise if it wins Best Album, and the band could win a lot of awards like the previous years they were nominated. Daniel Caesar is very big in Canada right now, although a lot of people may not know his music. However, Barack Obama is a big fan of Caesar and has put his music on his iPod.
Abbotsford’s Hedley had four nominations for their next album Cageless, and one of the songs on it, “Love Again,” sounds similar to The Weeknd song “I Feel It Come In.” However, given the recent allegations of sexual misconduct against the band, Hedley has been dropped from the show.
Safe Haven and Gord Downie’s last album Introduce Yerself are both tied with three nominations. Ruth B won Best Breakthrough Artist last year, and the rest of the album is great enough that she could get Best Album this year.
Now received two nominations. I thought that Now and Introduce Yerself were going to get a lot of nominations and that both stood a chance to win Best Album.
The awards show this year will contain a tribute to Downie, who passed away last year due to brain cancer. Also, the Barenaked Ladies will be inducted in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame with Steven Page coming back to the group for the occasion, which might lead to the band reuniting and making more music.
The Juno Awards ceremony is not the only event that will happen around that time. Other events taking place during Juno Week include Juno Fan Fare, where you can meet your favourite musicians, which is like the event that the Canadian Screen Awards does called Family Fan Day. Some of the musicians that you might meet include Grammy-winner Alessia Cara, Shawn Mendes, and host Michael Bublé.
The Juno Awards this year in Vancouver will celebrate Canadian music and the show will feature a West Coast look. The Junos air March 25 at 5:00 p.m. on CBC.
