The preparations for the 2023 JUNO Awards are starting to heat up ahead of the celebrations on March 13 at Edmonton’s Rogers Place.
In a press conference hosted on January 31 in Toronto, the 2023 JUNO nominees list was revealed for the first time. Canadian superstar, the Weeknd, leads the charge with six nominations while tied for five nominations a piece is pop-punk legend Avril Lavigne and Alberta’s own Tate McRae; all of whom will compete alongside one another for TikTok JUNO Fan Choice, Single of the Year, Album of the Year and Pop Album of the Year.
First-time JUNO Award nominees include singer/songwriter Preston Pablo and dance-pop icon Rêve, who both received nods for TikTok JUNO Fan Choice and Breakthrough Artist of the Year, while host province, Alberta, was well represented with nominations going out to homegrown talents such as Altameda for Adult Alternative Album of the Year, The Bearhead Sisters and Cikwes for Traditional Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year, Devon Cole for Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Rare Americans for Breakthrough Group of the Year and WAKE for Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year.
Also announced during the JUNO Award nominations were the nominees for the MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award, which will recognize one Canadian music educator’s impact not only on students but also their community and the music education field. The 2023 nominees are Jewel Casselman (Winnipeg, MB, Lakewood School), Susan Evoy (St. John’s, NL, St. Teresa’s Elementary & Waterford Valley High School), Stephen Richardson (Yellowknife, NWT, École St. Joseph School), Kelly Stronach (Guelph, ON, Mitchell Woods Public School) and Heidi Wood (Calgary, AB, Joane Cardinal-Schubert High School).
Finally, the additional performers for the 2023 broadcast from Edmonton’s Rogers Place were announced. Joining previously 2013 Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees, Nickelback, as well as Tate McRae, Tenille Townes, AP Dhillon, Banx & Ranx, Preston Pablo, and Rêve together in a collaborative performance, will be celebrated rockers Alexisonfire, Allan Slaight JUNO Master Class alumni, Aysanabee, and four-time JUNO Award-winning superstar, Jessie Reyez.
The 52nd Annual JUNO Awards and JUNO Week 2023 will take place in Edmonton, AB, from Thursday, March 9 through Monday, March 13, 2023, culminating with The JUNO Awards Broadcast. Tickets for The 2023 JUNO Awards start at $49.00 (including tax plus fees) and are available for purchase at www.ticketmaster.ca/junos, by phone, and in-person at the Rogers Place box office.
TikTok JUNO Fan Choice
Avril Lavigne
Lauren Spencer-Smith
MacKenzie Porter
Preston Pablo
Rêve 31
Shawn Mendes
Tate McRae
The Reklaws
The Weeknd
Tyler Shaw
SINGLE OF THE YEAR
“Bite Me” Avril Lavigne
“Flowers Need Rain” Preston Pablo and Banx & Ranx
“When You’re Gone” Shawn Mendes
“she’s all i wanna be” Tate McRae
“Sacrifice” The Weeknd
INTERNATIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR
= Ed Sheeran
Harry’s House Harry Styles
MONTERO Lil Nas X
Midnights Taylor Swift
Red (Taylor’s Version) Taylor Swift
ALBUM OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY MUSIC CANADA
WHO HURT YOU? Ali Gatie
Love Sux Avril Lavigne
Demons Protected By Angels NAV
i used to think i could fly Tate McRae
Dawn FM The Weeknd
ARTIST OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY SIRIUSXM CANADA
Avril Lavigne
Lauren Spencer-Smith
Michael Bublé
Shawn Mendes
The Weeknd
GROUP OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY SIRIUSXM CANADA
Arcade Fire
Arkells
Billy Talent
Metric
The Reklaws
BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY FACTOR, THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA AND CANADA’S PRIVATE RADIO BROADCASTERS
Dax
Devon Cole
Preston Pablo
RealestK
Rêve
BREAKTHROUGH GROUP OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY FACTOR, THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA AND CANADA’S PRIVATE RADIO BROADCASTERS
Banx & Ranx
Harm & Ease
Rare Americans
Tommy Lefroy
Wild Rivers
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY SOCAN
Abel Tesfaye
“Less Than Zero” (co-songwriters Tomoko Yamaguch, Hamada Tetsuro, Daniel Lopatin)
“Out Of Time” (co-songwriters Max Martin, Fragogian Josefsson, Axel Hedfors, Oscar Holter, Sebastian Ingrosso, Carl Nordstrom, Kevin Duane McCord)
“Sacrifice” (co-songwriters Max Martin, Fragogian Josefsson, Axel Hedfors, Oscar Holter, Sebastian Ingrosso, Carl Nordstrom, Kevin Duane McCord)
Faouzia
“Anybody Else” (co-songwriters Andre Davidson, Michelle Buzz, Sean Davidson)
“Puppet” (co-songwriters Andre Davidson, Johnny Goldstein, Sean Davidson)r
“RIP, Love” (co-songwriters Fran Hall, Jakke Erixson)
Tate McRae
“chaotic” (co-songwriter Victoria Zaro)
“feel like shit” (co-songwriters Victoria Zaro, Jacob Hindlin, Russell J Chell)
“she’s all i wanna be” (co-songwriter Greogry Kurstin)
Tenille Townes
“The Last Time” (co-songwriters Gordon Sampson, Benjamin Goldsmith)
“When You Need It” (co-songwriter Stephen Wrabel)
“When’s It Gonna Happen” (co-songwriters Stephenie Jones, Stephen Wrabel
TOBi
“Before We Panic” (co-songwriters Alex Goose, Eric Hagstrom, John Stephen Sudduth, Kevin Martin, Tony Martin, Stephenie Jones, Stephen Wrabel)
“Flowers” (co-songwriters Alex Goose, Daniele Luppi, Homer Steinweiss, Nick Movshon, Nicole Wray, Leon Michels, Paul Spring)
“Move” (co-songwriters Alex Goose, Jessica Lee Hansell, Jon Bap, Robin Hannibal, Tavon Thompson, Tyler Demorest)
COUNTRY ALBUM OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY EDMONTON’S BEST HOTELS
Way Back High Valley
Honkytonk Revival Jade Eagleson
Bronco Orville Pec
Masquerades Tenille Townes
Good Ol’ Days The Reklaws
ADULT ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY LONG & MCQUADE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Born Losers Altameda
The Garden Basia Bulat
Being Somewhere Dan Mangan
Colder Streams The Sadies
How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars The Weather Station
ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Blue Rev Alvvays
Duality Luna Li
Sewn Back Together OMBIIGIZI
THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND PUP
Tongues Tanya Tagaq
POP ALBUM OF THE YEAR I ALBUM POP DE L’ANNÉE
In The Meantime Alessia Cara
Love Sux Avril Lavigne
The Loneliest Time Carly Rae Jepsen
i used to think i could fly Tate McRae
Dawn FM The Weeknd
ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY AMII – ALBERTA MACHINE INTELLIGENCE INSTITUTE
Otherness Alexisonfire
Crisis Of Faith Billy Talent
Get Rollin’ Nickelback
Outta Sight The Sheepdogs
EXPLOSIONS Three Days Grace
VOCAL JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Featuring Caity Gyorgy
blue Diana Panton
Venez donc chez moi Laura Anglade and Sam Kirmayer
Nikki By Starlight Nikki Yanofsky
The Ostara Project The Ostara
JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SOLO)
Joy Ernesto Cervini
A Little Louder Now Lauren Falls
El Tinajon Luis Deniz
Rumba Rafael Zaldivar
Kinds of Love Renee Rosnes
JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR (GROUP)
Semantics Andrew Rathbun Quintet
Talk Memory BADBADNOTGOOD
The History of Us Carn Davidson
Desert Bloom Florian Hoefner Trio
The Dragon’s Tail Mark Kelso & the Jazz Exiles
INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Canadiana Canadian Brass
Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More Esmerine
Iguana Hard Rubber Orchestra
aubades Jean-Michel Blais
Lionheart Stephan Moccio
ALBUM FRANCOPHONE DE L’ANNÉE
medium plaisir Ariane Roy
Mercure en mai Daniel Bélanger Secret City*F.A.B.
PICTURA DE IPSE : Musique directe Hubert Lenoir
Crash Les Louanges
Chiac Disco Lisa LeBlanc
CHILDREN’S ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Nice to Meet You Beppie
Say Hello Jeremy and Jazzy
I Am Love Splash’N Boots
Walk off the Earth & Romeo Eats, Vol. 2 Walk off the Earth and Romeo Eats
Maestro Fresh Wes Presents: Julia the Great Young Maestro and Keysha Freshh
CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SOLO ARTIST)
Winner of the 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition Warsaw 2021 Bruce Liu Deutsche
Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1 David Jalbert
La Zingarella: Through Romany Songland Isabel Bayrakdarian
Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin James Ehnes
Fables Philip Chiu
CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR (LARGE ENSEMBLE)
Clara – Robert – Johannes: Lyrical Echoes Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Shelley
Handel: Messiah, HWV 56 Ensemble Caprice, Ensemble Vocal Arts-Quebec, conducted by Matthias Maute, featuring Karina Gauvin
Richard Strauss: Metamorphosen – Arvo Pärt: Symphonie No. 4, “Los Angeles” I Musici de Montréal, conducted by Jean-Marie Zeitouni
Viola Borealis Orchestre de l’Agora, conducted by Nicolas Ellis, featuring Marina Thibeault
Radiant Dawn: Music for Advent and Christmas The Elora Singers, conducted by Mark Vuorinen
CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SMALL ENSEMBLE)
Nagamo Andrew Balfour and musica intima
Hemsi: Chamber Works ARC Ensemble
Vagues et ombres collectif9
Early Italian Cello Concertos Elinor Frey and Rosa Barocca, conducted by Claude Lapalme
De la cour de Louis XIV à Shippagan! Chants traditionnels acadiens et airs de cour du XVIIe siècle Suzie LeBlanc, Marie Nadeau-Tremblay, Vincent Lauzer, and Sylvain Bergeron
CLASSICAL COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR
An Overall Augmented Sense of Well-being Anthony Tan
Bestiary I & II Bekah Simms
The Black Fish Keyan Emami
Prayers for Ruins Nicole Lizée
Supervillain Études Vincent Ho
RAP ALBUM/EP OF THE YEAR
GONZO Boslen
Retrospected (Acoustic) Classified
The Fleur Print Vol. 2 Jazz Cartier
Demons Protected By Angels NAV
Shall I Continue? TOBi
DANCE RECORDING OF THE YEAR
Afterglow Bob Moses and Kasablanca
Shinigami Eyes Grimes
These Nights feat. KIDDO Loud Luxury
CTRL + ALT + DEL Rêve
Spiral Rezz
CONTEMPORARY R&B RECORDING OF THE YEAR
When Flowers Bloom Adria Kain
If I Get Caught dvsn
No Longer in the Suburbs Dylan Sinclair
YESSIE Jessie Reyez
WTF Savannah Ré
REGGAE RECORDING OF THE YEAR
Water Ammoye
Like A Star Celena
Jah Love Exco Levi
In The Streets Kairo McLean
Reggae Party (feat. Kairo McLean & Finn) Kirk Diamond, Kairo McLean and Finn
CONTEMPORARY INDIGENOUS ARTIST OR GROUP OF THE YEAR (PRESENTED BY DESTINATION INDIGENOUS)
Watin Aysanabee
Zhawenim Digging Roots
Code Red Indian City
Beyond The Reservoir Julian Taylor
The Crossing Susan Aglukark
CONTEMPORARY ROOTS ALBUM OF THE YEAR
O Glory Blackie and The Rodeo Kings
That Was You and Me Fortunate Ones
Hold on to Love Shakura S’Aida
Come Morning The Bros. Landreth
House of Dreams The East Pointers
TRADITIONAL ROOTS ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Hurricane Clarice Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves
20 printemps Le Vent du Nord
Narrow Line Mama’s Broke
Tell ‘Em You Were Gold Pharis & Jason Romero
The Empress The McDades
BLUES ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Long River Angelique Francis
Midnight Blues Crystal Shawanda
Thanks For Tomorrow Harrison Kennedy
Preach To My Soul Spencer Mackenzie
Live at the King Eddy The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer
CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN/GOSPEL ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Into The Wild Dan Bremnes
TRUST Daniel Ojo
Jordan St. Cyr Jordan St. Cyr
Only Ever Always Love & The Outcome
The Church Will Rise Tehillah Worship
GLOBAL MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR
In the Footsteps of Rumi Ghalia Benali, Constantinople, Kiya Tabassian
Thieves of Dreams Lenka Lichtenberg
José Louis And The Paradox Of Love Pierre Kwenders
Vox.Infold Ruby Singh
Tradisyon Wesli
JACK RICHARDSON PRODUCER OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY AUDIO-TECHNICA
Akeel Henry
“For Tonight” (co-producer Sevn Thomas, Jahaan Sweet) (Giveon)
“Splash” (co-producer Tone, Kevin Ekofo) (John Legend)
Banx & Ranx
“CTRL + ALT + DEL” (Rêve)
“Dynamite feat. Sia” (co-producer Greg Kurstin, Jason Jigzagula Henriques) (Sean Paul)
KAYTRANADA
“dog food” (IDK)
“Iced Tea” (Joyce Wrice and KAYTRANADA)
Mike Wise
“10 Things I Hate About You” (Leah Kate)
“Yuck” (Charli XCX)
Murda Beatz
“California Breeze” (co-producer Marcel Korkutata) (Lil Baby)
“Have Mercy” (co-producer Chlöe, BoogzDaBeast, Fnz, Joseph L’Etranger) (Chlöe)
RECORDING ENGINEER OF THE YEAR
Derek Hoffman
“My Body” (Lili-Ann De Francesco)
“Stronger Than You Know” (The East Pointers)
George Seara
“HELL/HEAVEN” (Keshi)
“It’ll Be Okay” (Shawn Mendes)
Gus van Go
“Grow Up Tomorrow” (The Beaches)
“What Feels Like Eternity” (Metric)
Jason Dufour
“She Don’t Know” (Jade Eagleson)
“The Old Me” (Ria Mae)
Serban Ghenea
“THAT’S WHAT I WANT” (Lil Nas X)
“Unholy (feat. Kim Petras)” (Sam Smith)
ALBUM ARTWORK OF THE YEAR
Crybaby (Tegan and Sara) Emy Storey (Art Director, Designer, & Photographer), Becca McFarlane and Pamela Littky (Photographer)
Everything Was Forever Until It Was No MoreI (Esmerine) Ian Ilavsky (Art Director & Designer), Maciek Szczerbowski (Illustrator)
Kubasongs (Kubasonics) Jud Haynes (Art Director & Designer)
Crease (Kee Avil) Kee Avil (Art Director), Lawrence Fafard (Photographer)
Pep (Lights) Lights (Art Director & Illustrator), Virgilio Tzaj (Designer), Matt Barnes (Photographer)
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY YOUTUBE
“Fraud” (Jessie Reyez) Emma Higgins
“Unholy feat. Kim Petras” (Sam Smith and Kim Petras) Floria Sigismondi
“Have Mercy” (Chlöe) Karena Evans
“Different Than Before” (Amanda Sum) Mayumi Yoshida
“Remember Me For Me feat. Lily Moore” (SonReal and Lily Moore) Sterling Larose
ELECTRONIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR
NOT OK Mecha Maiko
Spectrums Odonis
Nightmare on Rezz Street 2 Mix Rezz
Synthetic Season One Rich Aucoin
Interior Teen Daze
METAL/HARD MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Psychic Jailbreak Cancer Bats
Merciless Destruction Get The Shot
Paid In Full Skull Fist
Synchro Anarchy VOIVOD
Thought Form Descent WAKE
ADULT CONTEMPORARY ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Adventure Book Francois Klark
Descendant Jann Arden
He Sang She Sang Marc Jordan & Amy Sky
Higher Michael Bublé
A Tyler Shaw Christmas Tyler Shaw
COMEDY ALBUM OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY SIRIUSXM CANADA
Let Me Hold Your Baby Courtney Gilmour
Splash Pad Jackie Pirico
A Person Who Is Gingerbread Jon Dore
Here Live, Not A Cat Matt Wright
Things Black Girls Say – The Album Zabrina Douglas
TRADITIONAL R&B/SOUL RECORDING OF THE YEAR
“Please Do Not Lean feat. BADBADNOTGOOD” Daniel Caesar
“PALISADE” Jon Vinyl
“All I Need” SAFE
“Last One feat. Dylan Sinclair” Savannah Ré
“HOW TO MAKE LOVE” THEHONESTGUY
RAP SINGLE OF THE YEAR
“Alejandro Sosa” 6ixbuzz and Pengz
“Been Himma” Dom Vallie
“Wrath” Freddie Dredd
“Twin Flame” KAYTRANADA and Anderson .Paak
“Wrong Decisions” NAV
UNDERGROUND DANCE SINGLE OF THE YEAR
“Debonair” Bensley
“Aye Aye” BLOND:ISH and Cameron Jack
“The Time Is (Now)” Fred Everything
“I Knew Techno” Greg Gow
“Easy” Tiga
TRADITIONAL INDIGENOUS ARTIST OR GROUP OF THE YEAR
kâkîsimo ᑳᑮᓯᒧᐤ Cikwes
Katajjausiit Iva & Angu
Mikwanak Kamôsakinat Joel Wood
Ôskimacîtahowin: A New Beginning Northern Cree
Unbreakable The Bearhead Sisters
MUSICOUNTS TEACHER OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY CST FOUNDATION
Jewel Casselman (Lakewood School, Winnipeg, MB)
Susan Evoy (St. Theresa’s Elementary & Waterford Valley High School, St. John’s, NL)
Stephen Richardson (École St. Joseph School, Yellowknife, NWT)
Kelly Stronach (Mitchell Woods Public School, Guelph, ON)
Heidi Wood (Joane Cardinal-Schubert High School, Calgary, AB)