The Juno Awards, Saturday Night In Edmonton

By FYI Staff

Following his four major wins Saturday night at the 2023 Juno opening night Awards Presented by Music Canada, The Weeknd becomes the second most-awarded winner in the event’s history. He has now amassed 21 wins in the past decade, breaking his tie with Bryan Adams while Anne Murray holds the top spot as the Junos’ most decorated artist with 25 awards.

Other key wins in the off-broadcast gala show: Alexisonfire in the Rock Album category, for Otherness; Alvvays, in the Alternative Album category with Blue Rev; Voivoid took the Metal/hard rock album with Synchro Anarchy; Arkells won Group of the Year; Banx & Ranx took the trophy in the Breakthrough Group category; The Sadies won the Adult Alternative Album for Colder Streams, and Michael Bublé’s Higher took the Adult contemporary album trophy. Harry Styles won in the International Album category with his international hit Harry’s House.

Other significant achievement awards included western-Canadian music impresario Ron Sakamoto being presented with the Walt Grealis special achievement Award (presented in person by Bruce Allen); Kevin Drew who received the MusiCounts Inspired Minds Ambassador award for charitable endeavours; and Nickelback was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

There was also a special ‘In Memoriam’ tribute for artists lost over the past year that included the Sadies, Corb Lund and Shannon Johnson performing Ian Tyson’s Four Strong Winds.

In total there were four of 40 awards handed out at Juno’s opening night awards on Saturday and live-streamed from the Edmonton Convention Centre on March 11.

Below is the complete list of nominees with the winners in bold.

See the full list of winners (in bold):

Country album of the year:
Tenille Townes, “Masquerades“
High Valley, “Way Back”
Jade Eagleson, “Honkytonk Revival”
Orville Peck, “Bronco”
The Reklaws, “Good Ol’ Days”

Underground dance single of the year:
Greg Gow, “I Knew Techno“
Bensley, “Debonair”
Blond:ish and Cameron Jack, “Aye Aye”
Fred Everything, “The Time Is (Now)”
Tiga, “Easy”

Jazz album of the year:
Renee Rosnes, “Kinds of Love,”
Ernesto Cervini, Joy
Lauren Falls, A Little Louder Now
Luis Deniz, El Tinajon
Rafael Zaldivar, Rumba

Adult alternative album of the year:
The Sadies, “Colder Streams”
Altameda, Born Losers
Basia Bulat, The Garden
Dan Mangan, Being Somewhere
The Weather Station, How Is It That I Should Look at the Stars

Dance recording of the year:
Rêve, “Ctrl + Alt + Del”
Bob Moses and Kasablanca, “Afterglow”
Grimes, “Shinigami Eyes”
Loud Luxury feat. Kiddo, “These Nights”
Rezz, “Spiral”

Contemporary roots album of the year:
The Bros. Landreth, “Come Morning”
Blackie and The Rodeo Kings, “O Glory”
Fortunate Ones, “That Was You and Me”
Shakura S’Aida, “Hold on to Love”
The East Pointers, “House of Dreams”

International album of the year:
Harry Styles, “Harry’s House”
Ed Sheeran, “=”
Lil Nas X, “Montero”
Taylor Swift, “Midnights”
Taylor Swift, “Red (Taylor’s Version)”

Contemporary Indigenous artist or group of the year:
Digging Roots, “Zhawenim”
Aysanabee, “Watin”
Indian City, “Code Red”
Julian Taylor, “Beyond the Reservoir”
Susan Aglukark, “The Crossing”

Breakthrough group of the year:
Banx & Ranx
Harm & Ease
Rare Americans
Tommy Lefroy
Wild Rivers

Traditional Indigenous artist or group of the year:
The Bearhead Sisters, “Unbreakable”
Cikwes, “kâkîsimo ᑳᑮᓯᒧᐤ”
Iva & Angu, “Katajjausiit”
Joel Wood, “Mikwanak Kamôsakinat”
Northern Cree, “Ôskimacîtahowin: A New Beginning”

Adult contemporary album of the year:
Michael Bublé, “Higher”
Francois Klark, “Adventure Book”
Jann Arden, “Descendant”
Marc Jordan & Amy Sky, “He Sang She Sang”
Tyler Shaw, “A Tyler Shaw Christmas”

Classical album of the year (small ensemble):
Elinor Frey and Rosa Barocca, conducted by Claude Lapalme, “Early Italian Cello Concertos”
Andrew Balfour and musica intima, “Nagamo”
ARC Ensemble, “Hemsi: Chamber Works”
Collectif9, “Vagues et ombres”
Suzie LeBlanc, Marie Nadeau-Tremblay, Vincent Lauzer, and Sylvain Bergeron, “De la cour de Louis XIV à Shippagan! Chants traditionnels acadiens et airs de cour du XVIIe siècle”

Reggae recording of the year:
Kirk Diamond, Kairo McLean and Finn feat. Kairo McLean, “Reggae Party“
Ammoye, “Water”
Celena, “Like a Star”
Exco Levi, “Jah Love”
Kairo McLean, “In the Streets”

Classical album of the year (solo artist):
Philip Chiu, “Fables”
Bruce Liu, “Winner of the 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition Warsaw 2021”
David Jalbert, “Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1”
Isabel Bayrakdarian, “La Zingarella: Through Romany Songland”
James Ehnes, “Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin”

Classical album of the year (solo artist):
Philip Chiu, “Fables”
Bruce Liu, “Winner of the 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition Warsaw 2021”
David Jalbert, “Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1”
Isabel Bayrakdarian, “La Zingarella: Through Romany Songland
James Ehnes, Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin”

Traditional roots album of the year:
Pharis & Jason Romero, “Tell ‘Em You Were Gold”
Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves, “Hurricane Clarice”
Le Vent du Nord, “20 printemps”
Mama’s Broke, “Narrow Line”
The McDades, “The Empress”

Comedy album of the year:
Jon Dore, “A Person Who is Gingerbread”
Courtney Gilmour, “Let Me Hold Your Baby”
Jackie Pirico, “Splash Pad”
Matt Wright, “Here Live, Not a Cat”
Zabrina Douglas, “Things Black Girls Say — the Album”

Instrumental album of the year:
Esmerine, “Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More”
Canadian Brass, “Canadiana”
Hard Rubber Orchestra, “Iguana”
Jean-Michel Blais, “Aubades”
Stephan Moccio, “Lionheart”

Recording engineer of the year:
Serban Ghenea
Derek Hoffman
George Seara
Gus van Go
Jason Dufour

Children’s album of the year:
Walk off the Earth and Romeo Eats, “Walk off the Earth & Romeo Eats, Vol. 2”
Beppie, “Nice to Meet You”
Jeremy and Jazzy, “Say Hello”
Splash’N Boots, “I Am Love”
Young Maestro and Keysha Freshh, “Maestro Fresh Wes Presents: Julia the Great”

Classical composition of the year:
Bekah Simms, “Bestiary I & II”
Anthony Tan, “An Overall Augmented Sense of Well-being”
Keyan Emami, “The Black Fish”
Nicole Lizée, “Prayers for Ruins”
Vincent Ho, “Supervillain Études/”

Artist of the year:
The Weeknd
Avril Lavigne
Lauren Spencer-Smith
Michael Bublé
Shawn Mendes

Album artwork of the year:
Ian Ilavsky and Maciek Szczerbowski for “Everything was Forever Until it was no More,” Esmerine
Emy Storey, Becca McFarlane, Pamela Littky for “Crybaby,” Tegan and Sara
Jud Haynes.
Kee Avil, Lawrence Fafard for “Crease, “Kee Avil
Lights, Virgilio Tzaj, Matt Barnes for “PEP,” Lights

Contemporary Christian/gospel album of the year:
Jordan St. Cyr, Jordan St. Cyr
Dan Bremnes, Into the Wild
Daniel Ojo, Trust
Love & the Outcome, Only Ever Always
Tehillah Worship, The Church Will Rise,

Vocal jazz album of the year:
Caity Gyorgy, “Featuring”
Diana Panton, “Blue”
Laura Anglade and Sam Kirmayer, “Venez donc chez moi”
Nikki Yanofsky, “Nikki by Starlight”
The Ostara Project, “The Ostara Project”

Blues album of the year:
Angelique Francis, Long River
Crystal Shawanda, Midnight Blues
Harrison Kennedy, Thanks for Tomorrow
Spencer Mackenzie, Preach to my Soul
The Harpoonist & the Axe Murderer, Live at the King Eddy

Metal/hard music album of the year:
Voivod, Synchro Anarchy
Cancer Bats, Psychic Jailbreak
Get the Shot, Merciless Destruction
Skull Fist, Paid in Full
Wake, Thought Form Descent

Classical album of the year (large ensemble):
Conducted by Nicolas Ellis, featuring Marina Thibeault, Viola Borealis, Orchestre de l’Agora
Conducted by Alexander Shelley, Clara – Robert – Johannes: Lyrical Echoes, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra
Conducted by Matthias Maute, featuring Karina Gauvin, Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Ensemble Caprice, Ensemble Vocal Arts-Quebec
Conducted by Jean-Marie Zeitouni, Richard Strauss: Metamorphosen – Arvo Pärt: Symphonie No. 4, ‘Los Angeles,’ I Musici de Montréal
Conducted by Mark Vuorinen, Radiant Dawn: Music for Advent and Christmas, The Elora Singers

MusiCounts Inspired Minds Ambassador Award:
Kevin Drew

Songwriter of the year:
The Weeknd
Faouzia
Tate McRae
Tenille Townes
Tobi

Jazz album of the year (group):
Florian Hoefner Trio, Desert Bloom
Andrew Rathbun Quintet, Semantics
BadBadNotGood, Talk Memory
Carn Davidson 9, The History of Us
Mark Kelso & the Jazz Exiles, The Dragon’s Tail

Alternative album of the year:
Blue Rev, Alvvays
Duality, Luna Li
Sewn Back Together, Ombiigizi
The Unraveling of Puptheband, Pup
Tongues, Tanya Tagaq

Producer of the year:
Akeel Henry
Banx & Ranx
Kaytranada
Mike Wise
Murda Beatz

Rock album of the year:
Alexisonfire, Otherness
Billy Talent, Crisis of Faith
Nickelback, Get Rollin’
The Sheepdogs, Outta Sight
Three Days Grace, Explosions

Global music album of the year:
Lenka Lichtenberg, Thieves of Dreams
Ghalia Benali, Constantinople, Kiya Tabassian, In the Footsteps of Rumi
Pierre Kwenders, José Louis and the Paradox of Love
Ruby Singh, Vox.Infold

Pop album of the year:
The Weeknd, Dawn FM
Alessia Cara, In the Meantime
Avril Lavigne, Love Sux
Carly Rae Jepsen, The Loneliest Time
Tate McRae, I Used to Think I Could Fly

Francophone album of the year:
Les Louanges, Crash
Ariane Roy, Medium plaisir
Daniel Bélanger, Mercure en mai
Hubert Lenoir, Pictura de ipse: Musique directe
Lisa LeBlanc, Chiac Disco
Wesli, Tradisyon

Group of the year:
Arkells
Arcade Fire
Billy Talent
Metric
The Reklaws

Rap single of the year:
Kaytranada and Anderson .Paak, Twin Flame
6ixBuzz and Pengz, Alejandro Sosa
Dom Vallie, Been Himma
Freddie Dredd, Wrath
Nav, Wrong Decisions

Music video of the year:
Floria Sigismondi for Sam Smith and Kim Petras, Unholy
Emma Higgins for Jessie Reyez, Fraud
Karena Evans for Chlöe, Have Mercy
Mayumi Yoshida for Amanda Sum, Different Than Before
Sterling Larose for SonReal and Lily Moore, Remember Me for Me

Electronic album of the year:
Teen Daze, Interior
Mecha Maiko, Not OK
Odonis Odonis, Spectrums
Rezz, Nightmare on Rezz Street 2 Mix
Rich Aucoin, Synthetic Season One

Single of the year:
The Weeknd, Sacrifice
Avril Lavigne, Bite Me
Preston Pablo and Banx & Ranx, Flowers Need Rain
Shawn Mendes, When You’re Gone
Tate McRae, She’s All I Wanna Be

Traditional R&B/soul recording of the year:
Savannah Ré feat. Dylan Sinclair, Last One
Daniel Caesar feat. BadBadNotGood, Please Do Not Lean
Jon Vinyl, Palisade
Safe, All I Need
TheHonestGuy, How to Make Love