The JUNO’s Recap and Winners

The 2022 JUNO Awards took place outdoor on Sunday in Toronto with some memorable moments and a long list of winners.

JUNO Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are one of the most popular annually held award shows. The award show honours Canadian artists and bands for their achievements in the music industry.

This year’s JUNOS returned as an in-person event at Toronto’s Budweiser stage for the first time in three years. This was due to most of Canada shutting down during the COVID-19 pandemic. And as always, there were some key moments that happened along with some artists taking the award home.

Charlotte Cardin was the first Montreal artist in a while to sweep the floor at the JUNOS. She took four awards with her, including single of the year for “Meaningless” and album of the year for “Phoenix.” Also, the host Sim Liu kickstarted the event with some provoking lines to grab the audience’s attention.

Here are the best moments and winners of the 2022 JUNOS.

Image Credit: cbc.ca

The best moments

The host Liu, noticed that the broadcast was live, and said, “so if anyone has ever wanted to go viral like around the world now’s your chance,” tapping his cheek clearly taking a dig at the Will Smith Oscars slap. “Come on, the floor is open. Have at ‘er.”

It was a given that Liu would take the show by storm after that line, and he did exactly that. He was singing, dancing, cracking Canadian jokes, (“I grew up on Ketchup chips, roti, and Jamaican beef patties”). It was a hosting exhibition.

Cardin performed “Meaningless” at the show. She started off on the piano before cat-walking and interacting with the fans. There were other performers from the evening including the Arkells, Arcade Fire, Avril Lavigne, Haviah Mighty, and Snotty Nose Rez Kids with DJ Shub.

Lavigne performed a medley of hits including “Complicated,” “Girlfriend,” Sk8er Boi,” and “I’m With You.”

Toronto singer-songwriter Mustafa became the first Black Muslim winner of the alternative album of the year category for “When Smoke Rises.”

Not only that, but the JUNOS rap category was split into two; rap album of the year, and rap single of the year. This brought light to the diversity of Canada’s hip-hop scene.

Liu also teased his first ever potential music project. He portrayed his musical side throughout the evening, dancing with Tesher to the famous TikTok song, “Jalebi Baby.” He also sang a bad rendition of Lavigne’s “Complicated.” The bad rendition was done on purpose. The actor said that his music is in progress, but is not ready to be revealed to the world just yet.

Image Credit: globalnews.ca

The female takeover

Two women picked up the newly introduced awards. Mighty became the first woman to win the rap album of the year for “Stock Exchange,” and Charmaine grabbed the Juno for rap single of the year for “Bold.”

Another set of females also made history as well. WondaGurl became the first female to win producer of the year twice after she won it last year. Kourkoutis became the first female to ever win recording engineer of the year.

R&B legend Deborah Cox became the first Black women to be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Former Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh was the one to hand her the award.

Savannah Ré won the JUNO for traditional R&B/soul recording for the second year in a row. She also paid respects to Cox and others who are inspiration for others. “It’s about time, you know,” she said.