Country star Josh Ross says he’s in good company leading Juno nominees with Tate McRae

Tate McRae, centre, performs during the iHeartRadio Music Awards, Monday, April 1, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Chris Pizzello

TORONTO — Country performer Josh Ross reached a personal Juno Awards milestone on Tuesday and he did it in good company with breakout pop singer Tate McRae.

Both rising Canadian stars led the contenders at this year’s Junos with five nominations each, and Ross says he’s delighted to have done it alongside McRae.

“I’m a huge Tate fan,” Ross said while en route to a Nashville songwriting session.

“She’s just killing it internationally, so it’s really amazing having as many nominations as her.”

The Burlington, Ont. country singer landed several nods in the same marquee categories as the Calgary-raised dancer-turned-pop singer. They’re both up for single and artist of the year, as well as for the viewer-voted fan choice award.

The pair will also go head-to-head for album of the year -- McRae is nominated for her sophomore record “Think Later,” and Ross for “Complicated.”

They’re trailed by fellow fan choice contenders Shawn Mendes and the Weeknd who hold four noms each.

The Junos will air on CBC live from Vancouver’s Rogers Arena on March 30. Pop crooner Michael Buble marks his third time as host.

McRae has been a favourite of the Junos since she picked up her first nomination in 2021. She won two awards last year -- artist of the year and single of the year for her hit “Greedy.”

Ross is newer on the Junos scene, having only previously been nominated for the fan choice prize.

Other big nominees this year are Karan Aujla and AP Dhillon, two breakout stars of the burgeoning Punjabi music world. They’re both nominated three times, including in the newly minted South Asian music recording of the year category.

Fellow South Asian category nominee Jonita Gandhi, who performs under her first name, said seeing her song “Love Like That” listed beside some of the genre’s biggest stars is meaningful.

“It’s been a long time coming, but I feel really happy that there are so many big strides being made to have South Asian representation on the global platform like the Junos,” she said.

“This is something I grew up watching, you know, watching Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion, all of my favourites get up on that stage. And now, to be nominated for an award, that’s crazy to me. I feel so empowered.”

This year’s nominees were announced without the usual splashy Toronto press conference. Organizers opted to trickle out details of some categories on morning radio shows before they fired out details on all of the contenders through social media.

Some nominees then participated in a virtual press conference ahead of a planned evening soiree in Toronto.

“We’re trying something different,” Junos head Allan Reid explained to kick off the virtual conference.

“We’ve been doing our standard press conference for a number of years, and one of the things is that so few artists can even attend that, especially some of the key artists who are major nominees.”

The album of the year contenders represent an array of languages, with Elisapie’s “Inuktitut” recorded in the Inuk singer’s native tongue, Quebec singer Roxane Bruneau’s “Submerge” in French and Sukha’s “Undisputed” in Punjabi. McRae’s “Think Later” and Ross’s “Complicated” are both in English.

For single of the year, the nominees are Ross for “Single Again,” Aujla’s “Winning Speech,” “Mendes for “Why Why Why,” McRae with “Exes” and “Timeless,” a collaboration between the Weeknd and Atlanta rapper Playboi Carti.

Rock band Sum 41, which recently wrapped a farewell tour, was previously announced as the Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee.

Matthew Samuels, better known as Toronto producer Boi-1da, will receive the international achievement award for a career that includes working on Drake’s first mixtape.

Burlington, Ont.-native Sarah Harmer is this year’s humanitarian award recipient for her support of environmental and human rights issues.

By David Friend

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2025.