Lowell, Tate McRae win big for global hits at Juno Awards industry gala

David Friend · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Mar 29, 2025 9:56 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

Tate McRae's Exes was named azygous of the twelvemonth astatine the Juno Awards manufacture ceremonial connected Saturday, though the planetary popstar was absent because she was booked to look astatine a euphony festival successful Brazil.

The Junos hardware was handed retired during the gala in Vancouver wherever prizes successful much than 40 categories volition beryllium awarded — including azygous and album of the year, arsenic good arsenic the new Juno recognizing South Asian euphony — up of Sunday's televised ceremony.

Elizabeth Lowell Boland won the archetypal songwriter of the twelvemonth grant created for non-performers. She picked up the prize for her enactment down the scenes connected Beyonce's Cowboy Carter album and the Beaches' Takes One To Know One.

The Calgary-raised Boland pushed for splitting the songwriting Juno class into 2 awards — performer and non-performer — aft seeing the lone Juno songwriting trophy consistently won by well-known signifier performers.

"I've been warring for this award," Boland said.

"I chased down radical astatine parties. I was truly annoying. I joked that radical would tally distant from maine erstwhile they saw maine astatine parties, due to the fact that I wasn't truly funny successful mingling. I conscionable wanted to alteration this 1 small thing.

Inuk singer-songwriter Elisapie and Haisla hip-hop duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids were aboriginal winners astatine the Juno Awards manufacture ceremony.

The Saturday evening soirée saw Elisapie's popular covers postulation Inuktitut pick up big alternate album, portion Rez Kids' Red Future landed rap medium of the year.

"I had a bully outcry walking here," said Darren Metz from Rez Kids successful the property room.

"When you enactment truthful hard towards thing for truthful long, and past yet get it, each the emotions that you endured passim that travel conscionable travel out."

Other aboriginal winners included No Time by Interplanetary Criminal and SadBoi, which earned creation signaling of the year. This But More by Priori won physics album.

Folk vocalist Sarah Harmer volition person this year's humanitarian grant for her advocacy of biology and quality rights issues.

The ceremony, which streams unrecorded connected CBC Music's YouTube leafage starting astatine 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET, is simply a precursor to Sunday's televised CBC broadcast hosted by Michael Bublé.

WATCH | Find retired who wins astatine Saturday's gala:

Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences main enforcement Allan Reid, whose enactment presents the Junos, says Bublé jumped astatine the accidental to big for a 3rd clip aft taking the relation successful 2013 and 2018.

Reid says this year's amusement takes connected caller value successful the discourse of the Canada-U.S. commercialized dispute, with Canadian artists "at the forefront of culture" and helping "define who we are arsenic a nation."

WATCH | 5 reasons to beryllium excited astir the 2025 Junos:

Bublé said connected Friday he's letting his actions talk for his nationalist pridefulness by hosting the Juno Awards successful Vancouver this weekend, arsenic Canada-U.S. tensions surge successful the background.

Bublé says helium doesn't privation to "add to the vigor of a troll" by being excessively vocal amid the quality but is alternatively focusing his vigor arsenic a arrogant Canadian connected "why we're truthful special" and "unique."

He says helium doesn't instrumentality the work of celebrating the champion of Canadian euphony lightly.