{"id":254825,"date":"2026-01-27T22:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T22:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/254825\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T22:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T22:31:10","slug":"cameron-whitcomb-in-ranks-with-tate-mcrae-justin-bieber-for-juno-nominations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/254825\/","title":{"rendered":"Cameron Whitcomb in ranks with Tate McRae, Justin Bieber for Juno nominations"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO — Country newcomer Cameron Whitcomb was lying in bed in Los Angeles, scrolling on his phone when he saw he was nominated for five Juno Awards.<\/p>\n

He read his name listed beside Justin Bieber and Tate McRae — who nabbed a leading six nominations each — and The Weeknd, who\u2019s also up for five.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thinking, \u2018That\u2019s some competition,\u2019 you know what I\u2019m saying?\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are some names, you know? I\u2019m just grateful to be alongside them. It\u2019s pretty gnarly. I think it just solidifies it in my folks\u2019 minds … and a lot of people\u2019s minds. Just like: \u2018Damn, I\u2019m there now.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

Whitcomb will face off against Bieber, McRae and The Weeknd for the fan choice prize, album of the year for his debut \u201cThe Hard Way\u201d and single of the year for \u201cOptions,\u201d a track about the lure of drugs and alcohol for someone in recovery.<\/p>\n

\"\"Singer Justin Bieber watches the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays during the World Series on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Ashley Landis) Singer Justin Bieber watches the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays during the World Series on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Ashley Landis) <\/p>\n

He\u2019s also up for country album of the year and breakthrough artist of the year.<\/p>\n

The Nanaimo, B.C.-raised Whitcomb entered the world of music in 2022 when he backflipped his way to the Top 20 of \u201cAmerican Idol,\u201d where the judges praised his energy but urged him to cut back on the physicality of his performances.<\/p>\n

After that, he said, he decided to pursue music more seriously, building an audience on social media and writing country songs about his addiction and recovery.<\/p>\n

Last September, he won two Canadian Country Music Awards — breakthrough artist and fan choice — and days later released his first album.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Justin Bieber and Tate McRae will face off in all six Junos categories that they\u2019re nominated for, including artist of the year and the fan choice award.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tate McRae Tate McRae attends the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena on September 7, 2025 in Elmont, New York. (Dimitrios Kambouris\/Getty Images via CNN Newsource) <\/p>\n

Bieber is up for album of the year for \u201cSwag II\u201d and single of the year for his lo-fi track \u201cDaisies,\u201d while McRae is competing with her album \u201cSo Close to What\u201d and the Y2K throwback single \u201cSports car.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Weeknd\u2019s five nominations include album of the year for \u201cHurry Up Tomorrow\u201d and single of the year for \u201cCry For Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it stands, the artist born Abel Tesfaye has 22 Junos, second only to Anne Murray\u2019s 24 (not including her two career honours), meaning this year he could become the winningest artist.<\/p>\n

Also up for album of the year and country album of the year is Josh Ross for \u201cLater Tonight.\u201d The Burlington, Ont., native is in the running for the fan choice award and single of the year for \u201cHate How You Look.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a new category called Latin music recording of the year, the inaugural nominees are Alex Cuba, Lido Pimienta, Andy Rubal, Isabella Lovestory and Mario Puglia.<\/p>\n

The Junos will be handed out at a gala on Saturday, March 28 and during a live broadcast hosted by comedian Mae Martin on Sunday, March 29.<\/p>\n

By Nicole Thompson<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO — Country newcomer Cameron Whitcomb was lying in bed in Los Angeles, scrolling on his phone when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[442,156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-254825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}