6 JUNO Awards Nominees You Need To Know

Canada’s biggest night in music, the 51st Annual JUNO Awards, is on the horizon, taking place at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage on Sunday, May 15th. This year’s show will be hosted by actor Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings) and feature performances from Arcade Fire, Avril Lavigne, Arkells, Charlotte Cardin, Mustafa and Deborah Cox. Fans will also see historic moments, including the induction of award-winning artist and world-renowned Broadway, TV, film and fashion icon Deborah Coxinto the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

The 2022 JUNO Awards marks the most first-time nominees and the most diverse genre representation in the award show’s history with 105 newly nominated artists and bands and 36 different genres represented. This year also marks the youngest nominee of all time Romeo Eats (4) who is nominated for Children’s Album of the Year and the youngest nominee for the Reggae Recording of the Year category — Kairo McLean (13), and the first woman ever nominated for Recording Engineer of the Year — Hill Kourkoutis. Other key artists to watch include Breakthrough Artist of the Year nominees Tesher and Faouzia, and Global Music Album of the Year nominee Alex Cuba, who recently took home a GRAMMY for Best Latin Pop Album.

At the event, MusiCounts will recognize one Canadian music educator’s impact not only on students, but also their community and the music education field, through the MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award, presented by the Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation.

You may recognize some of the biggest global names in music on this year’s nominees list including Justin Bieber, The Weeknd and Shawn Mendes, and U.S. nominees including Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Adele and Doja Cat, but there are a number of first-time nominees and Canadian artists that you should have on your radar as well.

Here are six 2022 JUNO Awards nominees you need to know:

JESSIA

Nominations (4): Single of the Year Presented by Live Nation Canada (“I’m Not Pretty”), Breakthrough Artist of the Year Presented by FACTOR - The Government of Canada and Canada's Private Radio Broadcasters, Pop Album of the Year (‘How Are You’), TikTok JUNO Fan Choice

• First-time nominee who has the third-most nominations following Justin Bieber, The Weeknd and Charlotte Cardin
• Went viral on TikTok with her song “I’m Not Pretty” which racked up millions of views and was remixed by Bebe Rexha
• Signed to Republic Records by Ryan Tedder 
• Released ‘How Are You’ EP on October 15, 2021
• Amazon Music Artist to Watch 2022
• 96.7 million streams on Spotify in 2021 shortly after being discovered on TikTok

Pressa

Nominations (4): Rap Single of the Year Presented by ADVANCE, Canada’s Black Music Business Collective (“Attachments”), Rap Album/EP of the Year [‘Gardner Express (Deluxe)’], Breakthrough Artist of the Year Presented by FACTOR - The Government of Canada and Canada's Private Radio Broadcasters, TikTok JUNO Fan Choice

• First-time nominee tied with JESSIA for the third-most nominations following Justin Bieber, The Weeknd and Charlotte Cardin
• Opened for Drake on his Boy Meets World Tour 
• His single “Attachments” is PLATINUM and GOLD Certified, while his ‘Gardner Express (Deluxe)’ EP boasts multiple certified GOLD tracks.
• Has collaborated with artists including Lil Uzi Vert, Murda Beatz and others
• 156+ million streams in North America alone

Charlotte Cardin

Nominations (6): Music Video of the Year (“Meaningless”),

Pop Album of the Year (‘Phoenix’), Artist of the Year  Presented by SiriusXM Canada, Album of the Year Presented by Music Canada (‘Phoenix’), Single of the Year Presented by Live Nation Canada (“Meaningless”), TikTok JUNO Fan Choice

• Most nominated artist at this year’s JUNO Awards
• 272+ million combined global career streams
• Recently released album ‘Phoenix’ spent two weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Canadian Albums chart. Cardin is the first Canadian female artist to accomplish consecutive weeks at #1 since Céline Dion in 2016
• First artist in the history of the SOCAN Songwriting Prize to be nominated in both the English and French categories.
• Previously nominations for Breakthrough Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year in 2018 
• Signed to Republic Records in 2017 after finishing as a Top 4 finalist on La Voix in 2013

Mustafa

Nominations (2): Alternative Album of the Year (‘When Smoke Rises’), 

Songwriter of the Year Presented by SOCAN (‘Air Forces’)

• First-time JUNO nominee; already a GRAMMY Award, BMI Pop Award and SOCAN Award-winning songwriter
• Has written songs for The Weeknd, Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes, Justin Bieber, The Jonas Brothers and more; has collaborated with artists like Drake and Usher
• Praised by NPR, Pitchfork, MTV, The New Yorker, Complex and more
• Began writing poetry and named Poet Laureate at the 2015 Toronto Pan American Games 
• Debut album ‘When Smoke Rises’ addresses gun violence and community grief in his childhood Toronto neighborhood

Charlotte Day Wilson

Nominations (3): Traditional R&B/Soul Recording of the Year (‘Alpha’), Jack Richardson Producer of the Year Presented by Audio-Technica Canada (“I Can Only Whisper”), Songwriter of the Year Presented by SOCAN (“I Can Only Whisper”)

• Debut album 'Alpha' released in 2021 has surpassed 50 million streams
• Has collaborated with Drake, Kaytranda, BADBADNOTGOOD and others
• Previously nominated for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year in 2019 and Traditional R&B/Soul Recording in 2021

Kairo McLean:

Nominations (1): Reggae Recording of the Year

• First-time nominee at only 13 years old
• The youngest artist to ever be nominated in the Reggae category
• Career began at 6 years old, began playing drums at age 3 and guitar at age 5
• Performs music with emphasis on family’s Jamaican traditions and strong social themes that inspire a new generation

The JUNO Opening Night Awards presented by Ontario Creates will stream globally on Sat. May 14 at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT from CBCMusic.ca/junos and CBC Music’s Facebook, YouTube and Twitter pages. The 2022 JUNO Awards will be broadcast and streamed live across Canada at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One, CBC Music, CBC Listen, and globally at CBCMusic.ca/junos and CBC Music’s Facebook, YouTube and Twitter pages. 

ABOUT JUNO AWARDS:

What started as the RPM Gold Leaf Awards in 1964 by RPM editor and publisher Walt Grealis and record label executive Stan Klees, soon became The JUNO Awards in 1971. Named in tribute to Pierre Juneau, the first chairperson of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the JUNO Awards were founded to raise the public profile and recognition of musical artists in Canada.

The JUNO Awards has evolved from an industry awards event to a weeklong festival that travels city to city across the country. It encompasses both public-facing fan events and industry/networking opportunities featuring a diverse array of Canadian artists and emerging talent. In addition to The JUNO Awards Broadcast, JUNO Week event programming includes JUNO Songwriters’ Circle, JUNOfest, JUNO Fan Fare, JUNO Cup, and more.

In 2002, The JUNO Awards went on the road to take the music to the fans and expanded its scope to include a series of public and private events outside of the Awards broadcast. Each host city has embraced their opportunity to support the JUNO Awards and build an enduring legacy of music programs in their market.

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For more information on JUNO Awards,

 please contact Jaclyn D. Carter and Olivia Del Valle at Shore Fire Media.