Tate McRae, Josh Ross lead nominees for country-loving 2025 Junos
McRae, Ross up for 5 trophies each at Canadian music's biggest night
Alberta pop sensation Tate McRae and Nashville up-and-comer Josh Ross lead the list of nominees with five apiece for the 2025 Junos, which were released on Tuesday and highlight the rise of both country and Punjabi music in the Canadian mainstream.
McRae isn't exactly a newcomer to the Junos field, but she has seen quick success. Since her first nomination in 2021, she's never been left off the board — though she only managed to take home her first statues in 2024.
This year, she's vying for many of the top awards to be given out in Vancouver on March 30 at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT). Her 2023 album Think Later and its single Exes put her in the running for fan choice, single, artist, album and pop album of the year.
She is competing in the album category against a linguistically diverse group of candidates. Roxane Bruneau's Submergé is a French-language release and Sukha's Undisputed is Punjabi, while Elisapie, who won 2024's trophy for contemporary Indigenous artist or group of the year, is nominated for Inuktitut, her album in that same language.
McRae's explosive rise is perhaps slightly eclipsed by fellow album of the year nominee Josh Ross. After his first nomination last year — for fan choice — the country star's single (Single Again) and album (Complicated) have him up for all the same categories as McRae, only swapping the "pop" album category for country.
His success presages a seeming invasion of country music throughout the Junos' setlist: four out of the 10 fan choice nominees are country or country-adjacent, while a fifth (Shawn Mendes) was honoured this year largely on the strength of his country-influenced single Why Why Why.
MacKenzie Porter, who was nominated for country album of the year alongside Ross, ascribed the cause to country music's broadened reach.
"There's less of what people would [call] 'bro country,' and more just honest storytelling. And that is reacting with such a big, mainstream audience," she told CBC News. "People just want to relate to music and storytelling. And I don't know — country, to me, has never been better."
Mendes is up for three additional awards: single, artist and pop album of the year (Shawn). That ties him for the second-most nominations with The Weeknd (real name Abel Tesfaye), who is up for fan choice, artist, songwriter and single of the year (Timeless feat. Playboi Carti).
If The Weeknd were to win all four, he would become the Junos' most awarded artist of all time. He currently boasts 22 wins, just behind Anne Murray's 25.
Nominees in key categories:
Tiktok Juno fan choice: Bbno$, Dean Brody, Jade Eagleson, Josh Ross, Karan Aujla, Les Cowboys Fringants, Preston Pablo, Shawn Mendes, Tate McRae, The Weeknd.
Artist of the year: Josh Ross, Kaytranada, Shawn Mendes, Tate McRae, The Weeknd.
Album: Inuktitut, Elisapie; Complicated, Josh Ross; Submergé, Roxane Bruneau; Undisputed, Sukha; Think Later; Tate McRae.
Single: Single Again, Josh Ross; Winning Speech, Karan Aujla; Why Why Why, Shawn Mendes; Exes, Tate McRae; Timeless, The Weeknd (feat. Playboi Carti).
Group: Crash Adams, Mother Mother, Spiritbox, Sum 41, the Beaches.
The Weeknd's nomination count matches those for Beyoncé's album Cowboy Carter, which shows up four times in the Junos shortlist — though with none of the nominations for the singer herself.
Instead, four Canadians are up for the work they contributed to her Grammy-winning country album, including Jack Rochon and Shawn Everett for Jack Richardson producer of the year.
Meanwhile, Calgary-born Lowell and Ontario's Nathan Ferraro compete for songwriter of the year (non-performer) for their respective Cowboy Carter songs.
That "non-performing" songwriter category is a new one, and among a raft of shifted categories for 2025's show. As a songwriter who has written for Juno winners from McRae to Lennon Stella to Rêve, Lowell said that category's creation — and her subsequent first nomination — meant as much, if not more, than her recent Grammy nods.
"Seeing a lot of the artists that I had developed [win] and then knowing that I would never really get that recognition, it was very painful for me,'" she said. She added that up until now, that lack of recognition for working songwriters has driven Canada's considerable talent south of the border.
"There's a lot of people working hard to change the industry in the U.S.," she said. "This is just me saying: 'I'm also doing it here. And [that] there's something in the water in Canada; it's worth being here. We can make an industry out of it.'"
Also new this year is "South Asian music recording of the year," meant to highlight homegrown talent inspired by that region's genres.
Among its nominees are AP Dhillon (The Brownprint), Jonita Gandhi (Love Like That) and Karan Aujla, who last year became the first Punjabi artist to win fan choice. Aujla is nominated in the South Asian music category for Tauba Tauba, and is also nominated for fan choice and single of the year (Winning Speech). Dhillon is also up for songwriter and breakthrough artist or group — a category that was merged for 2025.
Artists Sukha and AR Paisley help round out the Punjabi artists nominated in that category. Also nominated for breakthrough is Palestinian Canadian artist Nemahsis, who told CBC's Q that she was dropped by her label in 2023 for posting pro-Palestinian content on her social media accounts. She is nominated as an independent artist.
Breakthrough artist or group of the year: Alexander Stewart, AP Dhillon, AR Paisley, Chris Grey, Ekkstacy, Nemahsis, Owen Riegling, Sukha, Tony Ann, Zeina.
Songwriter: Abel Tesfaye, AP Dhillon, Jessie Reyez, Mustafa, Nemah Hasan.
Songwriter (non-performer): Evan Blair, Lowell, Nathan Ferraro, Shaun Frank, Tobias Jesso Jr.
Rap album: 96 Miles from Bethlehem, Belly; Luke's View, Classified; The Flower That Knew, DijahSB; See You When I See You, Dom Vallie; Red Future, Snotty Nose Rez Kids.
Pop album: Bleeding Heart, Alexander Stewart; If This Is It..., Jamie Fine; Anywhere But Here, Preston Pablo; Shawn, Shawn Mendes; Think Later, Tate McRae
Country album: The Compass Project — West Album, Brett Kissel; Dallas Smith, Dallas Smith; Complicated, Josh Ross; Nobody's Born With a Broken Heart, MacKenzie Porter; Going Home, Tyler Joe Miller.
Unchanged this year are the reggae recording, and children's and Christian/gospel album categories. While Junos organizers initially announced those categories would be put on "hiatus," all three were reinstated after a backlash — while maintaining their decision to exclude the international album category.
That decision was made far ahead of the current Canada-U.S. trade war. Still, organization CEO Allan Reid told CBC News the omission speaks to the Junos' mandate to promote Canadian music to Canadian audiences.
"It's sad to see the situation that's happening right now ... but I'm also super excited about the patriotism that's actually being created," he said. "It's an exciting time for Canadian music."
The children's album nominees also feature what is quickly becoming the Juno's most youthful mainstay. Romeo Eats (real name Romeo Aniello) now boasts his third Juno nomination, after becoming the youngest-ever nominee at four years old in 2022 and the youngest-ever winner the following year.
When it comes to exclusions, eagle-eyed fans may notice the absence of certified lover boy and Super Bowl talking point Drake. Despite releasing multiple tracks in his infamous feud with rapper Kendrick Lamar, Drake is once again absent from Junos lists — an unsurprising omission, since the God's Plan artist stopped submitting his music for consideration in 2018.
Also absent from this year's lists are Arkells for group of the year. As the most awarded group ever in that category, with six wins, it's a notable exclusion. Since 2010, they have only been passed over four times.
Rockers Sum 41 are up for the award, however, and are also scheduled to give their final performance as a band at the Vancouver show, where they will also be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of fame. B.C.'s Michael Bublé is hosting the ceremonies for the third time, and will share the stage with fellow hometown nominees Peach Pit, Ekkstacy, Tobias Jesso Jr., Mother Mother, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Dallas Smith and more.
Boi-1da is set to receive the International Achievement Award and Sarah Harmer the 2025 Humanitarian Award.
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