This year’s Juno Awards got us thinking.
More than ever, our home and native land is the breeding ground for music talent with serious star power.
And no, we’re not just talking about Alanis Morissette, who we told you basically won the entire Juno Awards this year.
Juno winners or not, here are six Canadian music artists you need to know now.
The Arkells
The Arkell’s were right at home in Hamilton for this year’s Junos. The Hamilton-grown indie rockers took home a Juno for Rock Album of the Year for High Noon, their third full-length studio album and their most successful one to date.
They also snagged the Group of the Year at Saturday’s Juno Gala reception. The band can add these to the two already under their rocker belts.
Of the four Junos, Max Kerman said, “It’s too much. It’s an embarrassment of riches,” and joked, “So we’re going to retire tonight, this is the official press conference.” As for their creative inspiration, Kerman says it comes 24/7. “I can see some of it with the band as we’re driving, just on a long journey trying to get to the next day,” he says. “It can come at any point. I have a notepad on my phone where I jot down interesting things that my friends say.”
Lights
With the release of the highly addictive album, Little Machines, Lights is hotter than ever. The album, which was released in September, received the Juno for Pop Album of the Year at Saturday’s Gala, and Lights gave the Juno crowd a high-energy performance of her hit song, “Up We Go” the following evening.
Post-win, the 27-year-old revealed her deep love for her fans. “I have a strong connection with the fans who have been with me since the beginning. I recognize them at shows. It means a lot to me and is the reason I’m here,” she says. “I feel like we’ve grown up together in a way…It’s cool to see fans grow and evolve and get the job of their dreams or into the school they’ve always wanted to go to.” If they want to follow in her footsteps, they should be unique. “Find your pocket; find your path, and carve out a place for yourself, so that it will be undeniable that that’s where you fit in the music industry – don’t wait for someone to create that for you,” she says.
Kiesza
If you don’t know her name yet, you definitely know her music. The 26–year-old was the weekend’s big winner, taking home a total of three Juno Awards. This includes both Dance Recording of the Year and Video of the Year for her mega hit “Hideaway,” and the Juno Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year. She also graced the Juno stage for a dynamic mash-up performance of “Sound of A Woman” and “Hideaway.”
Kiesza was apparently blindsided by her quick success. “I was in complete shock at first when everything started blowing up because I only expected my Facebook friends to see the video,” she said of the hugely popular “Hideaway.” She advises to “Take what I do to another level,” saying, “That’s what we do as artists; we can learn from others and they have a wealth of knowledge at their disposal…We are are so fortunate to be able to learn from all of these great musicians that have come before us. Some of them didn’t have anyone who came before them.”
Magic!
We really shouldn’t have to tell you who Magic! is by now. After all, they’re smash hit “Rude” has probably been stuck in your head since last spring. And if you were at the Maroon 5 concert in Toronto on Monday night, you got to hear the band – who is touring with Adam Levine and co. – sing it live. The same song won them a Juno on Saturday night for Breakthrough Group of the Year, followed by another on Sunday night for Best Single of the Year.
After touring the world, frontman Nasri Atweh cites the best thing to come home to as Tim Hortons, and while Mark Pellizzer says coming home is “like a stamp of approval.” As for tour highlights? “We played in Madison Square Garden and now we’re playing at the Air Canada Centre, which, for the Toronto boys is just huge…it’s like we’re setting up dominoes and we just keep knocking them down.”
Trevor Guthrie
Remember that cheesy, yet highly successful boy band called Soul Decision? Well, after disappearing from the scene for years, former frontman Trevor Guthrie is back with a new look (long hair, he doesn’t care) and a completely different sound as an EDM artist. The hit song “This is what it Feels Like” – in which Guthrie collaborated with Armin van Buuren – was nominated for a Grammy Award last year, and won a Juno for Best Dance Recording. This year, Guthrie was nominated for Dance Recording of the Year for “SoundWave.”
In going from a band that was marketed as a boy band to an EDM songwriter and musician, Guthrie says, “I just feel that I maybe have a little more credibility in what I’m doing now than before. But coming out of a boy band, it was kind of difficult to get that kind of credibility. Now, with a nomination two years in a row, it feels like I have a career. I can be happy about continuing to write songs.”
The Weeknd
It was a big ‘weeknd’ for R and B artist Weeknd, who took home a Juno award on the Gala night for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year and the following night during the live broadcast for Artist of the Year. No stranger to Juno hardware, he’s won the R&B/Soul Recording of the Year for the last two years in a row, for his albums “Trilogy” and “Kiss Land.” As for this year’s win, apparently the Twitter world agreed; he ranked the highest of the nominated performers in major categories, with the most mentions on Twitter leading up to the show.
Weeknd was a first-time Juno performer, who performed the 50 Shades of Grey track, “Earn It.” And “earn it,” he did. The 25-year-old Scarborough native shows no sign of stopping anytime soon…the next Drake, perhaps?
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