Known as the “Jewel of the JUNOs”, the 2025 edition of the JUNO Songwriters’ Circle was held at the Centre in Vancouver.
CBC Music’s Elamin Abdelmahmoud hosted the event that saw eight diverse and celebrated singer-songwriters discuss their favourite songs.
The evening kicked off with Calgary’s Lowell. Nominated for the inaugural JUNO Award for Songwriter of the Year (Non-Performer), the Calgary singer-songwriter gained international notoriety for her contributions to Beyoncé’s Grammy-winning album, Cowboy Carter. Lowell would treat the Vancouver audience with an acoustic performance of “Texas Hold ‘Em”, as well as her track “I Guess I’m Going to Hell”.
Alexander Stewart, whose YouTube channel boasts over 2 Million subscribers, began with his viral hit “I Wish You Cheated;” but would also play and share the story of his OCD and anxiety journey that lead to the creation of his hit “if you only knew” as a thank you to his mom for her support.
As the 2025 Humanitarian Award recipient, Sarah Harmer shared her experiences as a volunteer on the local level to preserve wetlands across Ontario. Harmer performed her 2010 hit, “One Match”, as well as “St. Peter’s Bay” from her 2020 album Are You Gone.
Already a winner in 2023 for his duet with Savannah Ré, Dylan Sinclair brought the piano ballad, “Forever”, from his latest JUNO nominated album, FOR THE BOY IN ME. Sinclair also shared “IMY”, which he featured on his 2025 Motherland Sessions EP, which focused on his journey to discover his Filipino roots.
In the event’s second set, multi-instrumentalist, Luna Li, took the time to share the personal stories of loss that led to her JUNO-nominated album, When a Thought Grows Wings, as well as track, “That’s Life.” She was also excited to perform “Bon Voyage,” which she described as her favourite song on the album.
With her album, Inuktitut, being a cover album of classic rock hits translated into the Inuit mother tongue, Elisapie was the only artist to not play her own songs. Instead, the Inuk singer-songwriter, blew the minds of the audience with her performances of “Uummati Attanarsimat (Heart of Glass)” and “Isumagijunnaitaungituq (The Unforgiven)”, which also featured fellow featured songwriter, Leif Vollebekk, on piano.
When asked about his journey to realize his musical ambitions, Leif Vollebekk revealed that the guitar he brought with him was once his grandfather’s. Vollebekk contributed “Southern Star” and “Moondog” from his JUNO-nominated album Revelation.
As a Palestinian-Canadian singer-songwriter, Nemahsis provided important context to her tracks “chemical mark” and “miss construed” from her JUNO-winning album, Verbathim, and how they reflect her experiences as an hijabi woman and being dropped from her label within days of signing due to world events.
If you missed the JUNO Songwriters Circle, you can find the two sets featured at www.cbc.ca/music!