Michael Bublé struck a pointedly patriotic tone when hosting the Juno Awards on Sunday night as he pushed back at U.S. President Donald Trump amid an escalating tariffs war and talk of turning Canada into the “51st state.”
“Folks, we’re one of a kind. We are beautiful. We are the greatest nation on Earth. And we are not for sale,” the popular crooner told his hometown Vancouver audience when hosting Canada’s music awards. Ever since Trump launched his trade war, set to include a threatened 25 percent tariff on goods from Canada starting April 2, Canadians have responded with a surge of nationalism that has seemingly brought the country together and was echoed by Bublé from his Vancouver award show stage.
“When they go low, we get high, we go high. Probably the same thing,” he jokingly added after an apparent misreading of his opening monologue. “Bottom line, we love this country. And when you love something, you show up for it, and we always will. We will, because we’re formidable, because we’re fearless, because we don’t just acknowledge our differences, we embrace them. Because they don’t just make us stronger, they make us a hell of lot more interesting,” Bublé added as he put a focus on Canada’s diversity and cultural differences with its southern neighbor.
Bublé brought his Argentinian actress wife, Luisana Lopilato, to the Rogers Arena stage to help hand out an award and introduced her as “one of Canada’s newest and proudest citizens.”
Also on Sunday night, Anne Murray was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Junos while wearing a glittering red Team Canada hockey jersey.
“Canada was my safe haven, my safety blanket, my light at the end of the tunnel, and it still is,” Murray said when recalling her early singing career when she spent most of her time performing in Las Vegas and across the U.S.
Also at the Junos, Canada’s version of the Grammys, The Beaches took home the prize for best group of the year, while the country music album of the year prize went to Josh Ross for Complicated. “I’m proud to be Canadian, and I think it’s time that we get back to our Canadian roots and remember that friends are better than enemies,” Ross said when accepting his trophy.
Trump’s tariff and annexation threats against his country’s northern neighbor have prompted a sudden focus by Canadians on their own homegrown culture, including local musicians, filmmakers and other artists. Also on Sunday night, the TikTok Juno Fan Choice Award went to Bbno$, a Canadian rapper also known as Alexander Leon Gumuchian. He thanked his fans, before bluntly adding: “Elon Musk is a piece of garbage.”
And the breakthrough artist of the year prize went to Nemahsis, who, when accepting her trophy, said “I’m happy I got to this as a fully independent Palestinian, Canadian Muslim woman.” In 2024, Nemahsis said she was dropped by a music label she has not named for her pro-Palestinian stance. “I would like to thank my mom, my dad, for standing by me when I was dropped. They said, ‘Don’t worry, you have a whole house that loves you, no matter what is said about you, no matter what the public misconstrues, we will always stand by you,’” Nemahsis, who was born Nemah Hasan, recalled.
Also at the 2025 Junos, the Canadian rockers, Sum 41, gave their last-ever live performance on stage as they were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. And in pre-broadcast prize giving, Tate McCrae won for best single of the year for “exes,” best artist of the year and best album and best pop album of the year for Think Later.
And the best rap single of the year went to Jessie Reyez for “Shut Up,” while SadBoi won the Juno Award for best dance recording of the year for “No Time, Interplanetary Criminal.” McCrae and Josh Ross led the nominations for the 2025 Juno Awards with five each going into the weekend of prize giving.
A full list of winners is available on the Juno Awards website.
