Music

Shad's strange Juno proposal: don't give the awards to musicians

by Nicole Villeneuve

Vancouver-based rapper Shad has written an op-ed for the Vancouver Sun’s Community of Interest blog proposing that next year’s Juno Awards recognize someone other than musicians.

“How about this for next year’s Junos: Ten of the year’s biggest musicians present awards to ten Canadians…who have devoted their lives to building a better society. Throw in some performances and there you go; the music industry still gets to showcase its stars and new talent, but instead of just promoting ourselves we’d be promoting values that are important to all of us.”

We love Shad and we love that he sees through the ultimate unimportance of awards shows (he does express gratitude for his previous nomination in 2008 and the boost it gave his career), and we do agree with his sentiment. But hi-jacking the Junos in a literal sense (which is of course what we’re picturing—a performance by Avril Lavigne and then an award for Susan from Collingwood, ON) just seems a little strange. How dare we rob artists like Caribou and Basia Bulat best new artist noms years after they’ve found pretty substantial success here and around the world? How dare you try to take that prestige away from us, Shad! (Kidding, obviously—the Junos are whatever, but they’re probably not going anywhere.)

The full piece can be read here. This weekend’s Junos marks the fortieth anniversary for the awards; Shad is nominated for Rap Recording of the Year, and he will also be presenting an award.