The Cowboys Fringants, whose album Royal Pub which topped the sales charts following the death of singer Karl Tremblay, are once again in first place, this time in the ADISQ nominations with seven mentions for artistic awards.
The group, also made up of Marie-Annick Lépine, Jean-François Pauzé and Jérôme Dupras, had a particularly eventful year with the death of Karl Tremblay in November, the tour of the musical comedy Royal Pub which continues and the launch of the new album bearing the same name in April.
Royal Pubwhich Karl Tremblay recorded in the last months of his life, was mentioned in several categories, including Album of the Year, Popular Success and Album of the Year, Alternative.
The very touching The end of the showwhere Karl Tremblay talks about his imminent death with the words of his sidekick Jean-François Pauzé, is unsurprisingly nominated for song of the year.
Pauzé is also nominated for the Author or Composer of the Year award.
Tough competition between regulars and newcomers
Leading the nominations for the artistic awards, the group is followed by Karkwa, who finds himself nominated five times, notably for his first album in several years, In the secondThe group led by Louis-Jean Cormier also received several nominations at the industry gala.
Traditional group Salebarbes also received five nominations for artistic awards, including group or duo of the year and song of the year for Little eraser.
Rapper Souldia is moving up a gear this year with his five mentions, including in the prestigious category of male artist of the year. He is also in the running for rap album of the year, with UnconventionalThis category is rather high this year, with the presence of Alaclair Ensemble, FouKi and the young artist Fredz, recipient of the Discovery Award in songwriting from the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Furthermore, the composer and pianist Alexandra Stréliski, as well as the singer-songwriters Aliocha Schneider, Charlotte Cardin and Roxane Bruneau also did well with four mentions.
In the important category of female artist of the year, Stréliski, Cardin and Bruneau find themselves in competition with Ingrid St-Pierre, Isabelle Boulay and Sara Dufour. Alexandra Stréliski is a regular at this award, having won it in 2023 and 2020.
For male artist of the year, the nominees are Bruno Pelletier, Daniel Bélanger, FouKi, Ludovic Bourgeois and Souldia. Last year, it was another award regular, Daniel Bélanger, who won the trophy.
For the revelations of the year, five emerging artists were selected, including the duo of Rose Perron and Félix Paul, Rau Ze and Barnev, the former backing singer for Céline Dion who has launched a solo career. Arielle Soucy, Émile Bourgault and Sophie Grenier are also in this category.
Singer Elisapie, who has been making waves this year with her album of covers of popular Inuktitut songs, has made her way into several categories, including Aboriginal artist of the year. She will be competing against Florent Vollant, Natasha Kanapé, Soleil Launière and Jeremy Dutcher, who won the Polaris Prize on Tuesday night.
The ADISQ gala will be held on November 3 and will be hosted for the first time by Pierre-Yves Desmarais. The comedian has big shoes to fill: he succeeds Louis-José Houde who bowed out after 18 years at the helm of the gala.
The main gala will be preceded by the First ADISQ Gala, hosted by rapper Sarahmée, and the Industry Gala, directed by Claudine Prévost, which will both take place on October 30.