Tuesday, February 1, 2011

40th Annual Juno Awards

Environment Canada may have issued a major snowstorm to hit the Greater Toronto Area, but Canadian music lovers woke up yesterday morning to excitement to discover the nominees for this year's Juno Awards. Those of you unfamiliar with the Juno's, simply put, they are Canada's Music Awards. This year the Juno's celebrate their 40th anniversary. The awards show will be take place in Toronto, at the Air Canada Centre, Sunday March 27 on CTV. 

The list of nominees this year are quite diverse - some obvious, some surprises, and some snubs. However, Toronto-rapper Drake leads the pack with six nominations: Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Single of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Rap Recording of the Year, and Juno Fan Choice Award. Drake is also hosting the festivities - seems only right seeing as the big show is in Toronto, no? 

Following with four nominations are: Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Hedley, Johnny Reid, and Justin Bieber. To celebrate 40 years, the Juno's have also decided to include a new category, Electronic Album of the Year. 

Aside from Drake, some of my personal favorite nominees include: Down With Webster  nominated for Group of the Year and Pop Album of the Year. Polaris-Prize winner Karkwa and Radio Radio both nominated for Francophone Album of the Year. Shad nominated for Rap Recording of the Year. All vying for Dance Recording of the Year are: Chromeo, Deadmau5, and Dragonnette (actually, this whole category is tough, as each of the nominees are pretty awesome). Lastly, Kardinal Offishall who is nominated for R&B/ Soul Recording of the Year - okay, since when is Kardinal an R&B artist... anyone?

Ultimately, despite some surprising choices, the overall list of nominees is impressive. As well, Down With Webster, Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Hedley, and Johnny Reid are the first set of performers announced to take the stage. Thus, to say the Juno's are going to be an entertaining show - is a safe bet. 

For the full list of nominees, head over to http://junoawards.ca/2011-juno-award-nominees/  

What do you think about this year's nominees? Who are some of your favourites? Will you watch the show? Let us know what you think! Leave a comment, or hit us up on twitter @jackieopoku and @sinemtekin

- Sinem Tekin

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