52nd Juno Awards Party | The evening in six highlights

The Weeknd took top honors in the 52^e Juno Awards Party, celebrated Monday night in Edmonton and hosted by actor Simu Liu. Five prizes were awarded at this performance-driven (and Nickelback) ceremony.

The big winner

The Weeknd was awarded the Juno trophy for best album of the year on Monday evening. He had already won those for artist of the year, best author, best single and best pop album. Winning five of the six awards within his reach this year, The Weeknd reached a total of 22, ranking as the second most awarded artist in Juno Awards history (behind Anne Murray, who has 25). When his name was unveiled for the award for best album (for Dawn FM), the announcement of his absence was met with a very long moment of boos from the audience, preventing Tyler Shaw, at the presentation, from accepting the award on his behalf. While the Torontonian has snubbed the Juno Awards every time in recent years, it seems the public is holding out hope that he will one day reappear to thank Canada for its support.

Benefits galore

Young Tate McRae started the performance streak with a strong number. The one we compare to Billie Eilish or Olivia Rodrigo put the Junos up to date. A little later, rapper and singer AP Dillon was the first Punjabi artist to perform during the ceremony. “I was happy to represent my community here, it’s a feeling that money can’t buy,” commented the artist, all smiles, at a press conference after his appearance on stage. Anishinabe artist Aysanabee, accompanied by the Northern Cree powwow singing and drumming group, provided one of the most poignant and successful performances of the evening. Country singer-songwriter Tenille Townes was magnificent. Later, Alexisonfire presented his song Without sun, taken from his most recent album, Otherness. The group lowered the tempo thanks to a solid performance at the height of its prestige. The stunning Jessie Reyez was flawless, delivering an intense moment, some time after winning Contemporary R&B Recording of the Year (for YESSIAH). Another outstanding performance of the evening: that of Quebecers Banx & Ranx and Rêve, with Toronto’s Preston Pablo, who won the revelation of the year prize on Monday (which was also presented to him by Pierre Kwenders and the Minister Pablo Rodríguez).

Nickelback at the Canadian Music Hall of Fame

The whole evening was a long tribute to Nickelback, which we saw in the opening number, to whom actor Ryan Reynolds dedicated a retrospective video, and who had the honor of closing the evening with a performance. Above all, the evening was an opportunity to induct Nickelback into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. After complaining about only having two minutes of thank you time, Chad Kroeger began a series of speeches where everyone thanked a list of collaborators and loved ones. The band of Chad and Mike Kroeger, Ryan Peake and Daniel Adair won their first Juno in 2001. And, 22 years later, the Albertans wrapped up Juno night with a number where the band covered many of their great successes. While the ceremony’s other musical moments were rather soberly executed, the evening’s budget seems to have been spent largely on Nickelback’s medley, backed up by videos and lots and lots of flame throwing.

Like at the Grammys, hip-hop is celebrated

We are celebrating 50 years of hip-hop music this year. The Juno Awards evening was an opportunity to mark the scope of the Canadian presence in the genre. If the Grammy awards did it in a big way, with all the gratin of American rap, the Juno awards also wanted to honor this musical style and did well – it was however disappointing not to see artists Quebec in this issue. Kardinal Offishall and Haviah Mighty were at the helm of a number during which many artists followed one another on stage, namely Choclair, the Toronto duo Dream Warriors, Maestro Fresh Wes, the pioneer Michie Mee, as well as TOBi, accompanied by DJs Mel Boogie on the decks. The number was dancing, electrifying and immersed us in a bubble of nostalgia while highlighting the current talent of Canadian hip-hop. This very beautiful moment of music ended with the victory of TOBi for the album or the rap EP of the year.

Nice animation

Côté animation, la soirée a été divertissante. Si son numéro d’ouverture se concentrait sur la pression d’offrir une belle prestation en tant qu’animateur, Simu Liu, qui a déjà tenu ce rôle, a été plutôt efficace, malgré un trop plein de numéros chantés (et dansés) en début de soirée. En plus des neuf prestations, entre celles d’Alexisonfire, de Jessie Reyez ou de Nickelback, ça faisait beaucoup. Heureusement, d’autres ont parfois pris le relais. Avril Lavigne a été l’une des premières à présenter des artistes pour un numéro. Fidèle à elle-même, la chanteuse a été sans retenue lorsqu’une personne du public, seins nus, s’est invitée sur la scène avec elle. Lui ordonnant de s’en aller en l’insultant (sans que la production ait le temps de couper les jurons), Lavigne a mis un peu d’ambiance dans cette soirée plutôt convenue. Elle a plus tard reçu le prix des fans et a eu l’occasion de revenir à la blague sur l’incident, en prévenant de ne pas l’interrompre cette fois. Plus sérieusement, elle a mentionné au micro que « l’industrie change tellement, mais [sa] community of admirers has been the most constant thing in [sa] career “.

Quebec honored over the weekend

In terms of Quebec victories, the first evening of the Juno Awards was more fruitful than the main evening (where no artist from here was rewarded). The prize for the best French-speaking album was given to Les Louanges, for its album Crash. The group Voivod was awarded the prize for the metal/hard music album of the year thanks to Synchro Anarchy. Montreal producer duo Banx & Ranx won Breakthrough of the Year (Group). Montrealer Rêve (Briannah Donolo) was awarded the dance recording of the year award for her song CTRL+ALT+DEL. Montreal pianist Philip Chiu won the Juno in the classical soloist album category, and, still in the classical music categories, the Orchester de l’Agora, under the direction of Nicolas Ellis, and with soloist Marina Thibeault, picked up the Juno for Classical Album of the Year for Large Ensemble. Five performances punctuated Saturday evening, including that of Quebecer Jean-Michel Blais, who was a finalist in the instrumental album of the year category.

With The Canadian Press