{"id":565680,"date":"2026-03-28T02:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T02:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/565680\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T02:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T02:47:10","slug":"what-to-watch-for-at-the-2026-juno-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/565680\/","title":{"rendered":"What to watch for at the 2026 Juno Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Joni Mitchell at the 68th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 1. She is set to make a rare public appearance in her home country at the Junos.Jordan Strauss\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Some of Canada\u2019s biggest musical acts are headed to the Hammer. <\/p>\n

The Juno Awards will be handed out at Hamilton\u2019s TD Coliseum this weekend, with the annual celebration of homegrown music taking place over two nights.<\/p>\n

Here are five things to look out for over the second-biggest weekend in Canadian music (behind only the Weeknd, of course).<\/p>\n

Joni Mitchell\u2019s return to Canada<\/p>\n

Joni Mitchell, born in Alberta and raised in Saskatchewan, is set to make a rare public appearance in her home country to accept a lifetime achievement award on Sunday. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not yet clear whether she\u2019ll sing at the ceremony, but Sarah McLachlan and Allison Russell are on deck to perform in her honour. <\/p>\n

Mitchell last stopped by the Junos in 1981, when she was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame by then-prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. <\/p>\n

Mitchell hasn\u2019t attended any public events in Canada since 2013, when she participated in a tribute event at Massey Hall \u201cJoni: A Portrait in Song\u201d to mark her 70th birthday. Rufus Wainwright and Kathleen Edwards sang, and Mitchell read an original poem and performed a short set at the end of the event. <\/p>\n

A brain aneurysm in 2015 kept her out of the public eye for a period, and she wasn\u2019t present to receive an honorary degree in Saskatoon in 2018 or a lifetime achievement award in Montreal in 2019.<\/p>\n

Mitchell has slowly returned to performing in recent years, including a memorable turn at the Grammys in 2024. <\/p>\n

Junos organizers say Mitchell\u2019s health will be the determining factor in whether she sings Sunday. <\/p>\n

Mitchell will become the second artist to receive the Junos\u2019 lifetime achievement award after Anne Murray last year. The only other time it was handed out was in 1989, to the awards\u2019 namesake, broadcast executive Pierre Juneau.<\/p>\n

Could the Weeknd be crowned absentee king of the Junos?Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Weeknd performs during the Super Bowl halftime show in Tampa, Fla., in 2021.Ashley Landis\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

The Weeknd is no stranger to breaking records. He was the first artist to have more than 100 million monthly Spotify listeners; his song Blinding Lights was the first ever to reach five billion streams on the platform, and he has the highest-grossing tour by a male artist of all time.<\/p>\n

But he could soon achieve a distinctly more homegrown milestone: winningest Junos artist in history. <\/p>\n

The current reigning regent is Anne Murray, who has 24 Junos (not including a lifetime achievement award and an induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame) to the Weeknd\u2019s 22.<\/p>\n

The artist born Abel Tesfaye is up for five additional Junos this year, four of which will be handed out on Saturday, ahead of the broadcast celebration. <\/p>\n

Even two wins would put him on par with Murray, and a third would break her record.<\/p>\n

But while the Junos has consistently celebrated the Weeknd\u2019s work, he hasn\u2019t attended the ceremony since 2016.<\/p>\n

Extra show, light on the awardsOpen this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Daniel Caesar at Coachella in Indio, Calif., in 2022. Performers at the Junos include Arkells, The Beaches and Daniel Caesar, who is set to receive a special international achievement award.Kevin Winter\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

There are 47 Juno Awards, but you wouldn\u2019t know it to tune into the televised ceremony.<\/p>\n

Only four winners will be announced on Sunday night: fan choice, breakthrough artist or group, group of the year, and contemporary R&B recording of the year.<\/p>\n

The rest \u2013 including major prizes such as album of the year, artist of the year and single of the year \u2013 will be handed out at a gala the day before that will be livestreamed on cbcmusic.ca\/junos.<\/p>\n

Many of the nominees in those categories won\u2019t be in attendance. In addition to the Weeknd, Justin Bieber and Tate McRae are expected to skip the celebrations. <\/p>\n

But if Sunday\u2019s show seems a little light on the hardware, it\u2019ll make up for it in music.<\/p>\n

Performers include Arkells, The Beaches and Daniel Caesar, who is set to receive a special international achievement award.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, comedian Mae Martin, who ventured into music with their confessional debut album I\u2019m a TV last year, will host the Sunday-night festivities.<\/p>\n

A fete for Nelly FurtadoOpen this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Nelly Furtado performs at the Invictus Games opening ceremony in Vancouver in February, 2025.ETHAN CAIRNS\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Nelly Furtado has earned her spot in the pantheon of Canadian music greats. She\u2019s being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame this year, and the Junos will mark the occasion with a tribute to her work. Alessia Cara, Jully Black, Shawn Desman and Tanya Tagaq will perform a medley of her songs alongside Furtado\u2019s band, arranged by musical director Herag Sanbalian.<\/p>\n

The I\u2019m Like a Bird singer has long been a friend of the Junos, hosting for the first time in 2007 and again in 2024.<\/p>\n

In October, in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the release of her first album Whoa, Nelly! Furtado announced she planned to retire from live performance \u201cfor the foreseeable future.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI have enjoyed my career immensely, and I still love writing music as I have always seen it as a hobby I was lucky enough to make into a career,\u201d she wrote in an Instagram caption. \u201cI\u2019ll identify as a songwriter forever.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cameron Whitcomb ascensionOpen this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Cameron Whitcomb performs at the Canadian Country Music Association Awards in Kelowna, B.C., in September, 2025.DARRYL DYCK\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Of the four artists with the most Juno nominations this year, relative newcomer Cameron Whitcomb \u2013 Canada\u2019s answer to Benson Boone \u2013 is the only one expected to be in attendance.<\/p>\n

The backflipping 23-year-old nabbed five nods, the same number as The Weeknd. That\u2019s behind only Justin Bieber and Tate McRae, who received a leading six nominations each.<\/p>\n

Whitcomb got his start on American Idol in 2022, where the judges praised his energy but urged him to cut back on the physicality of his performances. <\/p>\n

After that, he decided to pursue music more seriously. He\u2019s kept up the intensity of his performances while also making himself more vulnerable. He started writing songs about his addiction and recovery, and built a social media following by making short-form videos.<\/p>\n

These days, he boasts 1.3 million followers on Instagram and 1.6 million on TikTok. <\/p>\n

Whitcomb will face off against Bieber, McRae and The Weeknd for the fan choice prize, album of the year for his debut The Hard Way and single of the year for Options, a track about the lure of drugs and alcohol for someone in recovery. He\u2019s also up for breakthrough artist of the year and country album of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Joni Mitchell at the 68th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,75,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,341,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-565680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-entertainment","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-music","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}