Alessia Cara leads virtual 2020 Juno winners

Alessia Cara was the big winner during Monday’s virtual JUNO Awards. The Brampton native was originally tapped to host the annual event, which was scheduled to take place at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon on March 15. Considering what March 2020 turned into, that in-person two-day event was cancelled due to COVID-19 and rescheduled as an hour and a half pre-recorded virtual award ceremony Monday night.Cara, who was one of the handful of artists to perform, took home three of the six JUNOs she was up for this year, including the ones for Album of the Year and Pop Album of the Year for her sophomore effort, The Pains of Growing. Released in November 2018, the personal and quietly triumphant album included the singles “Growing Pains,” “Trust My Lonely” and “Out of Love” which Cara performed live on her solo Canadian tour in 2019. The singer-songwriter also took home the award for Songwriter of the Year, making her the first woman to win the category since Serena Ryder in 2014.Cara’s latest wins bring her total JUNO count to five, having previously won Breakthrough Artist of the Year in 2015 and Pop Album of the Year for her debut Know-It-All in 2017.

 

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thank you @thejunoawards? songwriter??? pop album??? album of the year???? what a trip. here are my hopefully legible thank you’s to the people who have helped me along. still can’t believe my life.

A post shared by ALESSIA CARA (@alessiasmusic) on Jun 29, 2020 at 7:53pm PDT

In addition to Cara, Brampton natives Tory Lanez and Jessie Reyez (who recently called out the Canadian music industry for its lack of support for Black and Indigenous artists) took home some big wins on Monday. Lanez won in two of his five nominated categories, including Rap Recording of the Year for “Freaky” and R&B/Soul Recording of the Year for his “Feel It Too” collaboration with Reyez and Tainy. Lanez is the first artist in JUNO history to win both categories in the same year, bringing his total wins to four.

 

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Me and the bros just won a juno ?

A post shared by Jessie Reyez (@jessiereyez) on Jun 29, 2020 at 6:55pm PDT

Cara’s friend and tour mate Shawn Mendes also had a big night, winning Single of the Year for his Camila Cabello collaboration "Señorita." Mendes has now won the category three years in a row, making him the first artist in JUNO history to do so. The 21-year-old also won Artist of the Year for his second year in a row, bringing his total JUNO wins to 10. The back-to-back win for Artist of the Year makes Mendes only the second person to hold that title in JUNO history (The Weeknd won the category in 2015 and 2016).Eternal punk princess Avril Lavigne won the highly coveted Fan Choice Award for the third time on Monday night, taking home the honour for the only JUNO category voted on entirely by fans. This year’s win ties Lavigne with Michael Bublé, while Justin Bieber continues to lead the Fan Choice category with five wins.Billie Eilish’s Grammy and Brit Award-winning debut When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go? took home International Album of the Year and Bryan Adams won Adult Contemporary Album of the Year for Shine A Light. Monday’s win was Adams’ 17^th JUNO, making him the third-most awarded artist in JUNO history behind Céline Dion and Anne Murray.Monday’s JUNO Awards also featured several first-time winners, including Celeigh Cardinal (Indigenous Artist of the Year), Lennon Stella (Breakthrough Artist of the Year), Meghan Patrick (Country Album of the Year) and Alexandra Stréliski (Instrumental Album of the Year) and Neon Dreams (Breakthrough Group of the Year), who also performed on Monday night.

 

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Wow. we won a juno award. I don’t think we’ve smiled this big in our entire career. But this award is for you guys and all your faith in us. We just want to make you proud. @thejunoawards

A post shared by Neon Dreams | Alt Pop Duo (@neondreams) on Jun 29, 2020 at 6:03pm PDT

Next year’s award show (celebrating the 50^th anniversary!) is set to take place in Toronto on March 27, 2021 at the Scotiabank Arena.