The 2016 Juno Awards Recap: The Music Is Giving Me Life

If you love the best music in the industry with half the drama for your mama, then you need to see our 2016 Juno Awards recap. Canadian artists know their music. I bet you recognize more than a few of these artists, and if you don’t then you have some music to catch up! I simply love the sounds happening in music this year. I literally can’t even. Sure there is Justin Bieber saying “sorry’ a lot (A little Canadian joke! The Biebs should be saying sorry after how he treats Selena Gomez!). Look past the Biebs and you find an amazingly talented group of nominees like Shawn Mendes, The Weeknd, Alessia Carr and one of my favs Walk Off The Earth (fangirl squeal!) who were simply slaying the Juno Awards last night.

The Full 2016 Juno Awards Recap

Ready for the full 2016 Juno Awards recap? Let’s go, because this music is epic. I dare you to make it through this recap without adding something to your playlist. At the end of the post, I listed all of the 2016 Juno Awards nominees and winners. If you’re dying to see if your fav won, I won’t judge you if you skip ahead first then skip back to read the recap. 😉 Let’s get on with the details for the 2016 Juno Awards recap!

The 2016 Juno Awards Recap: The Hosts And Preshow Awards

The 2016 Juno Awards were held live last night at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The show’s hosts were Juno Award winner Jann Arden and the host of The Amazing Race Canada, Jon Montgomery. Most of the awards were presented on April 2, 2016, at the Juno Gala Dinner and Awards, hosted at the Calgary TELUS Convention Center. Also, awards were also presented for the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award to Rosalie Trombley, and the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award is awarded to Arcade Fire for their contributions to several non-profit organizations. At the gala dinner before the event, there was also a couple of excellent performances such as Young Empires singing “The Gates,” Jazz All-Stars performing “Mr. Clean,” and the Afiara Quartet & Skratch Bastid sharing a musical cross between orchestra and electronic with “Through The Invisible.” My favorite performance was Fortunate Ones singing “Wherever You Go.” 

The 2016 Juno Awards Recap: The Main Event

The show opened with newcomer Alessia Cara singing two songs: Here and Wild Things. She did a simply fab job. I have heard her song Wild Things before but this was my first time hearing Here live, beautiful song!

The hosts of tonight’s show, Jann Arden, and Jon Montgomery took the stage. Jann commented, “One of the reasons I took this job was to increase my Twitter Canada followers.” Ha, aren’t we all Jann.

Scott Helman takes the stage to perform his song, Bungalow. After his amazing and bright performance, he presented the award for Group of the Year to Walk Off the Earth. Their acceptance speech included, “If you have a dream, go out and go for it.” Walk Off The Earth are the cutest ever, and have an awesome sound.

Buffy Sainte-Marie is onstage to perform a spoken word piece for her hit song, Carry It On. This piece was full of passion and focused on the environment, urging all to take care of Mother Nature.

The award for Single of the Year was presented by Buffy Sainte-Marie, to The Weeknd for his song Can’t Feel My Face. His speech was short, but he did say, “I want to thank my fans, you’ve been with me since day one!”

Shawn Hook takes the stage for his song Sound of Your Heart. Great performance and man, can he play the piano. Next performance is LIGHTS performing her song Running with the Boys along with local performer Sam Spensley. The performance was to promote MusiCounts, Canada’s charity for music education that is partnered with The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. It was truly a beautiful, heartwarming performance. Two more performances were up next: country singer Dean Brody with Bring Down the House and Coleman Hell with his song, Two Heads. Brody reminds me of a cross between Eric Church and Jason Aldean. He wears the sunglasses like Church does and the cowboy hat like Aldean. Both great performances.

Jus Reign, the creator of Much Digital Studios and Kardinal Offishall, Canada 150 Ambassador, present the award for Best Country Album to Dean Body for his album, Gypsy Road. Congrats to him, well-deserved!

Then we had four more performances back to back. Shawn Mendes killed it with Stitches, married couple duo Whitehorse performed Tame as the Wild Ones, The Weeknd slayed the song Acquainted and lastly Might Not and Dear Rouge with I Heard I Had.

Alan Doyle and Melanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, present the award for Breakthrough Artist to the well-deserving and talented Alessia Cara. During her speech, she said, “I’m just a regular girl who lived the most normal life, and I released a song and it hasn’t been the same since.” Keep an eye on Alessia Cara; she has a big future ahead.

Canadian rockers from Alberta, Nickelback, inducts Burton Cummings into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. During his speech he stated, “This belongs to all of you. I will always try to honor the music, thank you so much.”

Rock legend and icon, Bryan Adams, takes the stage for a performance of his newest song, Go Down Rockin’. Let me tell you at age 56, this guy can still rock the stage. Loved it!

The final two awards of the night are presented: Fan Choice Award was presented to Justin Bieber (I think he was at the iHeart Music Awards tonight) and Album of the Year was presented to The Weeknd for his album Beauty Behind the Madness. The Weeknd was presented with his award by the mayor of Calgary, Naheed Nenshi.

The show closes with a fitting tribute to Burton Cummings, featuring Shawn Hook and Jann Arden singing Break It to Them Gently, The Tenors singing Stand Tall and Burton Cummings and his band, The Carpet Frogs, singing My Own Way to Rock!

The 2016 Juno Awards Recap: The Big List Of Nominees & Winners

JUNO FAN CHOICE AWARD

• Alessia Cara
• Carly Rae Jepsen
• Cœur de pirate
• Dean Brody
• Drake
• Justin Bieber- WINNER
• Shawn Hook
• Shawn Mendes
• The Weeknd
• Walk Off the Earth

SINGLE OF THE YEAR

• Here, Alessia Cara
• Hotline Bling, Drake
• What Do You Mean? Justin Bieber
• Clothes Off, Ria Mae
• Can’t Feel My Face, The Weeknd- WINNER

INTERNATIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• 25, Adele- WINNER
• Hozier, Hozier
• Title, Meghan Trainor
• Four, One Direction
• Dream Your Life Away, Vance Joy

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, Drake
• À Paradis City, Jean Leloup
• Purpose, Justin Bieber
• Handwritten, Shawn Mendes
• Beauty Behind the Madness, The Weeknd- WINNER

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

• City and Colour
• Drake
• Justin Bieber
• Shawn Mendes
• The Weeknd- WINNER

GROUP OF THE YEAR

• Hedley
• Marianas Trench
• Metric
• Three Days Grace
• Walk Off the Earth- WINNER

BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST OF THE YEAR

• Alessia Cara- WINNER
• Coleman Hell
• Francesco Yates
• Scott Helman
• Tobias Jesso Jr.

BREAKTHROUGH GROUP OF THE YEAR

• Dear Rouge- WINNER
• Half Moon Run
• Milk & Bone
• The Elwins
• Young Empires

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR

• Abel Tesfaye- WINNER
• Béatrice Martin
• Buffy Sainte-Marie
• Dallas Green
• Tobias Jesso Jr.

COUNTRY ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• Anchor, Autumn Hill
• Pick Me Up, Brett Kissel
• Gypsy Road, Dean Brody- WINNER
• County Line, High Valley
• Frontier, Paul Brandt

ADULT ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• If I’ve Only One Time Askin’, Daniel Romano
• The Park Avenue Sobriety Test, Joel Plaskett
• In My Dreams, Mo Kenney
• Goon, Tobias Jesso Jr.
• Leave No Bridge Unburned, Whitehorse- WINNER

ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• Deep in the Iris, BRAIDS- WINNER
• Poison Season, Destroyer
• Are You Alone? Majical Cloudz
• Half Free, U.S. Girls
• Viet Cong, Viet Cong

POP ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• Hello, Hedley
• Purpose, Justin Bieber- WINNER
• Augusta, Scott Helman
• Handwritten, Shawn Mendes
• Sing It All Away, Walk Off the Earth

ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• Get Up, Bryan Adams
• The Physical World, Death from Above 1979- WINNER
• Chaotic Neutral, Matthew Good
• No Fixed Address, Nickelback
• Future Nostalgia, The Sheepdogs

VOCAL JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• New, Alex Pangman
• Live from the Cellar, Dan Brubeck Quartet
• Clear Day, Emilie-Claire Barlow- WINNER
• This Bitter Earth, Jaclyn Guillou
• Some Version of the Truth, Tara Kannangara

JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR: SOLO

• It’s About Time, Al Muirhead
• Dialectics, Curtis Nowosad
• Abeng, Rich Brown
• Movin’ Forward, Robi Botos- WINNER
• Duets, Tara Davidson

JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR: GROUP

• Forest Grove, Allison Au Quartet- WINNER
• Over My Head, Brad Turner Quartet
• What I Hear Now, Jerry Granelli Trio
• Stealing from My Youth, Mark Kelso & The Jazz Exiles
• Sheer Tyranny of Will, Peripheral Vision

INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• Spin Cycle, Afiara Quartet, and Skratch Bastid
• Never Were the Way She Was, Colin Stetson, and Sarah Neufeld- WINNER
• Orchestral Powwow, Cris Derksen
• Lost Voices, Esmerine
• Legacy Live, Jens Lindemann and Tommy Banks

FRANCOPHONE ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• 22h22, Ariane Moffatt
• Zulu, Galaxie
• À Paradis City, Jean Leloup- WINNER
• Les grandes artères, Louis-Jean Cormier
• Si l’aurore, Marie-Pierre Arthur

CHILDREN’S ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• Greatest Hits, Big Block Singsong
• Dirty Feet, Bobs & LoLo
• Forest Friends’ Nature Club Album, Ginalina
• Songs from the Boot, Splash’N Boots
• More Sheep, Less Sleep, The Swinging Belles- WINNER

CLASSICAL ALBUM: SOLO OR CHAMBER ENSEMBLE

• Liszt: Piano Sonata & Sonnets, Angela Hewitt
• Chamber Works by Jerzy Fitelberg, ARC Ensemble
• Mendelssohn: Op. 44 nos. 1, 2, Cecilia String Quartet
• Berlin Sonatas, Elinor Frey
• Franck & Strauss: Violin Sonatas, James Ehnes- WINNER

CLASSICAL ALBUM: LARGE ENSEMBLE OR SOLOIST(S) WITH LARGE ENSEMBLE ACCOMPANIMENT

• Vivaldi: Four Seasons, James Ehnes with the Sydney Symphony
• Mahler 10, Orchestre Métropolitain
• Symphony and New Works for Organ and Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with Olivier Latry and Jean-Willy Kunz- WINNER
• Tomasi, Desenclos, Jolivet: French Trumpet Concertos, Paul Merkelo, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal
• Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos 2 & 3, Stewart Goodyear with the Czech National Symphony

CLASSICAL ALBUM: VOCAL OR CHORAL PERFORMANCE

• Vivaldi: Sacred Music, Vol. 4, Claire de Sévigné, Maria Soulis, and Aradia Ensemble
• Sacred Reflections of Canada – A Canadian Mass, Canadian Chamber Choir
• Peter-Anthony Togni: Responsio, Jeff Reilly with Andrea Ludwig, Charles Daniels, John Potter, and Suzie
• Leblanc
• Las Ciudades de Oro, L’Harmonie des Saisons- WINNER
• Chansons Perpétuelles, Marie-Nicole Lemieux

CLASSICAL COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR

• Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems, Dinuk Wijeratne- WINNER
• Piano Quartet, John Burge
• The Afar, Jordan Pal
• Centennials, Michael Oesterle
• Bookburners, Nicole Lizée

RAP RECORDING OF THE YEAR

• Sour Soul, BADBADNOTGOOD & Ghostface Killah
• If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, Drake- WINNER
• Kardi Gras Vol. 1: The Clash, Kardinal Offishall
• Can’t Fly Without Gravity, k-os
• For The Town, SonReal

DANCE RECORDING OF THE YEAR

• We All Fall Down ft. Jamie Lidell, A-Trak
• Badman (Torro Torro Remix), Autoerotique & Max Styler
• At All, Kaytranada
• Save Me ft. Katy B, Keys N Krates- WINNER
• Be Right There, Sleepy Tom & Diplo

R&B/SOUL RECORDING OF THE YEAR

• Four Pink Walls, Alessia Cara
• The Fall Out, August Rigo
• Déjà Vu, Dru
• Butchy’s Son, Patrick Lehman
• Beauty Behind the Madness, The Weeknd- WINNER

REGGAE RECORDING OF THE YEAR

• The French Sessions, Dubmatix
• Hello Mama, Exco Levi
• Nah Complain Ft. Daddy U Roy, Kafinal- WINNER
• Sexy Gal ft. T.O.K., Kreesha Turner
• Escape from the Mongoose Gang, Lyndon John X

ABORIGINAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• The One, Armond Duck Chief
• Come and Get Your Love: The Tribe Session, Black Bear
• Power in The Blood, Buffy Sainte-Marie- WINNER
• Rumble, Derek Miller
• Refined, Don Amero

CONTEMPORARY ROOTS ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• So Let’s Go, Alan Doyle
• Power in The Blood, Buffy Sainte-Marie- WINNER
• The Bliss, Fortunate Ones
• Indian Ocean, Frazey Ford
• Beautiful Scars, LeE HaRVeY OsMOND

TRADITIONAL ROOTS ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• The Chance, J.P. Cormier
• Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project, Jayme Stone
• Domestic Eccentric, Old Man Luedecke
• A Wanderer I’ll Stay, Pharis and Jason Romero- WINNER
• Songs in The Dark, The Wainwright Sisters

BLUES ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• Faded but Not Gone, Big Dave McLean
• Brothers in This World, Blackburn
• Vicksburg Call, David Gogo
• This Is from Here, Harrison Kennedy- WINNER
• Sliding Delta, Michael Jerome Browne

CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN/GOSPEL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• Brave New World, Amanda Cook
• Where The Light Is, Dan Bremnes- WINNER
• Saints & Sinners, Matt Maher
• We Are, The City Harmonic
• TREES – Chapter 2, Tim Neufeld

WORLD MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• Healer, Alex Cuba
• Neo-Reconquista, Boogat- WINNER
• Revuelta Danza Party, Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra
• Moorka, Lemon Bucket Orkestra
• Resistance, The Souljazz Orchestra

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

• Bob Ezrin- WINNER
• Dallas Green
• Henry “Cirkut” Walter
• Steve Webster & Emilie-Claire Barlow
• Thomas “Tawgs” Salter

RECORDING ENGINEER OF THE YEAR

• Gus Van Go,
• Liam O’Neil
• Noah “40” Shebib
• Serban Ghenea
• Shawn Everett- WINNER

RECORDING PACKAGE OF THE YEAR

• CLUB MEDS, Dan Mangan + Blacksmith – Cam Dales and Ben Clarkson
• LOST VOICES, Esmerine – Clyde Henry Productions: Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, Constellation: Ian Ilavsky- WINNER
• ELEMENTS, Long Distance Runners – Duncan Major, Joel Upshall
• WEST TRAINZ, West Trainz – Erik West Milette
• LES GRANDES ARTÈRES, Louis-Jean Cormier – Sarah Marcotte-Boislard

VIDEO OF THE YEAR

• Virgins, Eva Michon (Death from Above 1979)
• Dark Days, Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux and Chandler Levack (Pup)
• For the Town, Peter Huang (Sonreal)
• Avalanche, Philip Sportel (Kalle Mattson)
• Hello, Xavier Dolan (Adele)- WINNER

ELECTRONIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• A Life Well Lived, AM Static
• Concubine, Concubine
• The Midas Touch, Discrete
• Noontide, Humans
• The Other Day, Pomo- WINNER

HEAVY METAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• Searching for Zero, Cancer Bats
• Never Wanna Die, Diemonds
• Desire Will Rot, Fuck the Facts
• Of Ghosts and Gods, Kataklysm- WINNER
• Success, KEN mode

ADULT CONTEMPORARY ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• Wallflower, Diana Krall
• Refined, Don Amero
• A Jann Arden Christmas, Jann Arden
• What Love Is All About, Johnny Reid- WINNER
• Under One Sky, The Tenors

So lovelies, what did you think of the 2016 Juno Awards recap? Did you see any of your fav artists take home an award? Is there anyone on this list that you rock out too? Tell me in the comments!

*Image via Pixabay