The most memorable moments from the 2025 Juno Awards
From unforgettable performances to heart-warming quotes, here are all the highlights
The Juno Awards have returned to Vancouver after seven years away, and CBC Music is on the ground to catch every thrilling moment. Whether it's performances from Canada's rising stars, behind-the-scenes hijinks or Junofest showcases that bring the house down, we'll be covering Juno Week so you don't miss a thing.
There's a lot happening, but we'll make sure you'll feel like you're there. Scroll down for the highlights, and for more Junos coverage, head over to cbcmusic.ca/junos.
March 30: Juno Awards
Host Michael Bublé opened the 2025 Juno Awards with help from a few of this year's nominees: Elisapie, Roxane Bruneau, Jonita Gandhi, plus 2024 Hall of Fame inductee Maestro Fresh Wes collaborated on a multi-lingual rendition of a Bublé medley that included his hits Feeling Good, Haven't Met You Yet and Home.
With lyrics translated to Inuktitut, French and Punjabi, the medley ended in a flash of red-and-white confetti, with many audience members holding small Canadian flags.
"I'm a hometown kid who never left," Bublé said after the performance, beginning a speech about his Canadian pride.
"We're one of a kind. We are beautiful, we are the greatest nation on Earth. And we are not for sale," he said.
"I think this song [Home], that talks about going home, and also being an Indigenous Inuk woman who's been occupying what we call Canada for a very, very long time, it was a nice treat to finally get to put it in my words and in my world," Elisapie later said in the media room, of the collaboration.
Bbno$ performed It Boy surrounded by 11 drag performers including Toronto pop artist Priyanka and Canada's Drag Race contestants Tiffany Ann Co and Xana. Right after his performance, he presented the award for group of the year.
Rueben George, Sundance Chief and member of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, introduced the performance by Snotty Nose Rez Kids and Tia Wood, welcoming people to the land.
"Since time out of mind, we have been here," he said. "These lands right here, the water, carries songs, carry our future. What we are going to witness today is our red future. So, I am calling on all your ancestors, all of us, to come together to witness this performance. When our people come together, great things happen, like you're going to witness here today."
Snotty Nose Rez Kids and Wood performed a medley of their songs including Red Future, Dirt Roads and their collaboration, Shapeshifter. Onstage, alongside their dancers, were signs that read "Say Their Names" and "We Are Not Landfill" and "Emily Pike," referring to the 14-year-old Indigenous girl who was found dead and dismembered in Arizona last month.
Asked in the media room why representation of Indigenous musicians is important on a stage such as the Junos, Snotty Nose Rez Kids' Darren "Young D" Metz said: "We've just been silenced for so long."
"And we're now living in a time where our stories are being told the way that they are meant to be told, and that is through our voices," he continued. "And whether it's hip-hop or whether it's art, it could be film, whatever it may be, our stories are now getting told. And it's more important now than ever.
"And I think that because of living in a colonized world, it's forever evolving, and we need to evolve with it," said Quinton "Yung Trybez" Nyce. "And when they say land back, they're not just talking about land, they're talking about spaces like this that we were forced to live in. And for us to reclaim spaces … I think it's really important for the next generation coming up after us to see representation on these stages so they know what they're capable of."
Jeannie Hunter took home the MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award, and as Bublé handed her the mic, with her hands shaking around her notes, the first thing she said was, "Oh my God."
"Thank you to the strong women in my life, who lift me up every day," she said, after thanking her family, friends and students. "And thank you to everyone here for supporting the transformative power of music education."
Vancouver band Peach Pit made its Junos broadcast debut with a performance of Magpie, the title track of the band's nominated album. The band also incorporated parts of Black Sabbath's War Pigs into the beginning and end of its rockin' set.
Country singer Josh Ross, tied as a leading nominee with five Juno nods this weekend, won his first ever Juno tonight, for country album of the year.
"I just want my records to be heard around the world and I'm grateful for this to be my first project," he said. "I am proud to be Canadian, let's get back to our Canadian roots and remember that friends are better than enemies."
Palestinian Canadian artist Nemahsis, who won her first Juno Award this weekend when she took home alternative album of the year, also made her Junos broadcast debut with a performance of her hit Stick of Gum. Conductor, dancer and singer onstage, Nemahsis later said in the media room that her inspiration behind the performance was to connect the video for her older song, I Wanna Be Your Right Hand, to her newly winning work.
"I never got to perform [I Wanna Be Your Right Hand]," said Nehmasis, explaining that it was released earlier in the same year that she was dropped from her label. "And that was that moment of 'Nemahsis is becoming Nemahsis,' and I never got to do that. So instead of pretending like it didn't happen, I'm just picking up where I left off. And so we really referenced the music video. But then we connected it to the new Stick of Gum and the hand movements, but more chaotic, and I just merged the two worlds so that I could feel fulfilled, like I didn't just brush away an era of mine."
Later on in the show, Nemahsis won her second Juno Award, this time for breakthrough artist or group of the year. DijahSB danced onstage after they named her win, hugging Nemahsis as she arrived.
"Well well well. This is dedicated to all the hijabis that are," she said in her acceptance speech. "I've been wearing hijab for 20-plus years and all I ever wanted was to turn on Family channel, YTV and just see somebody that looks like me. I didn't think it would take this long, and I didn't think I'd be the one to do it, but I'm happy it got to this. As a fully independent Palestinian Canadian Muslim woman, I would like to thank God … thank you so much. 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."
Soon after, rap single of the year winner Jessie Reyez took the stage to present producer Boi-1da with his International Achievement Award.
"I couldn't be more proud to be your friend," she said. "Your range clearly has no limits, you're one of the reasons the sound of the 6ix is on the map," she added.
In his acceptance speech, Boi-1da thanked his friends and collaborators and shouted out Drake: "Listen, Drake, love you bro — we started this together, we did this together. I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't Drake and all the sacrifices he made, all the doors he kicked down for a lot of people, man."
Back in the media room, he reflected on his legacy as a producer: "My production style, what I want people to remember is just great music, you know I don't put too much thought into the music that I make," he said. "I just want to make music that evokes emotion, whether it's happiness, sadness, whatever it may be, I just make music to make people feel the music, and to be honest, I don't really think too deeply about getting super technical or anything. I just want somebody to take something from anything that I make or that I'm part of."
Good Charlotte's Benji and Joel Madden were onstage to induct Sum 41 into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and talked about how close they've been with the band.
"These guys are legends, they hold a very special place in punk-rock music and our band Good Charlotte, we've known Sum 41 since we were kids," said Benji. "We came up together. We toured to weird little towns, played small venues, always travelling by van and trailer before anyone knew who any of us were."
"And we ended up on a huge world tour together in 2004, all over the world, it was such a big tour, so big we all travelled in our own buses," added Joel. Benji said they have "a ton of great road stories" together.
"They're like family," said Joel, "and now they're in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame."
"The truth is, we weren't great musicians, but we worked hard. We got better. We fought for everything that we had," Sum 41 said in the band's acceptance speech.
Longtime B.C. resident Sarah McLachlan was at the Junos to hand Anne Murray her Lifetime Achievement Award, and she talked about Murray's legacy and McLachlan's relationship to the Nova Scotian legend's music.
"There is no one like her," said McLachlan. "Everyone knows Anne Murray, and everyone loves her. Even Stewie from Family Guy couldn't resist her, and her wicked sense of humour. Anne and I are both from the East Coast and I've always felt a kindred spirit in her. A shared desire to pursue our dreams but on our own terms. Her songs were the soundtrack to my childhood and I still know the words to every one."
Sporting a glittering Canada NHL jersey, Murray walked onstage and gave McLachlan a big hug.
"When I look back, it seems clear that singing never felt like a choice for me I had to do it, it felt as natural as breathing," Murray said.
"I was always finding ways to sing but I never, ever thought of doing it for a living. But then things just started to happen and I felt this push behind me so I let it happen. I became a regular on a CBC Network television show called Singalong Jubilee that was seen across the country and it just seems that the stars were aligned in Halifax, Nova Scotia."
Asked about her bedazzled, Canadian red jersey while backstage in the media room, Murray said: "All I have to do is wear this, I don't even have to say anything. It says it all. The Order of Canada pin, the jersey, says it all."
Murray, who was classically trained as a singer, emphasized the importance of enunciation in music today in the media room.
"At the time that I was singing it was very important to enunciate, I mean, I hear a lot of people now, I don't even know that they're speaking English. That's just my opinion, I don't understand some of the artists," she said. "But we were taught that way, that you enunciate and cross your Ts and dot your Is. But I don't hear a whole lot of that anymore so it seems to have gone by the board."
One of the two newly added categories at this year's Juno Awards is South Asian music recording of the year, with nominees including Karan Aujla, Jonita Gandhi, Sandeep Narayan and AP Dhillon — who ultimately won. Chani Nattan, Inderpal Moga and Jazzy B were also nominated for their collaboration Coolin, a hit song that has racked up over four million streams on Spotify, which they performed on the Junos stage on Sunday night.
Vancouver's own bbno$, who's been nominated for seven Juno Awards across his career, finally won his first: the Juno Fan Choice Award. He said he honestly wasn't expecting to win.
"You know, there's Tate McRae and Shawn Mendes," he said. "Also, fun fact: Shawn Mendes has really, really soft hands. This is really sick, I would really like to appreciate my parents, my whole team, my whole family's here right now. This is really sick that I won a Juno in my hometown so everybody, thank you so much, I love you all very much. Also Elon Musk is a piece of garbage."
In the media room, he reflected on his first win. "I mean I would have been honestly kind of a little disappointed because I was like, 'Damn, I'm tired, I just don't wanna lose right now,'" he said, adding that his sister texted him saying, "I'm proud of you little bro."
To finish off the night, Sum 41 performed the band's hits Landmines, Fat Lip, Still Waiting and In Too Deep to a raucous crowd — for what was their final performance as a band.
March 29: Juno Awards Gala, Honouring Ceremony
As is tradition, Saturday began with the Honouring Ceremony, which celebrates Indigenous musicians nominated at the awards each year. Last year, the Halifax Juno Awards featured a record number of Indigenous nominees — and this year another record was broken.
"Last year there were about 30 nominees and we've doubled that this year," said Dennis Thomas "Whonoak," who is an elected councillor of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (People of the Inlet) in Deep Cove, North Vancouver. "It shows the power of who we are … space is being created because of you," he said, pointing to some of this year's 67 Indigenous nominees in the crowd, "and it's really important to honour those gifts you have."
Members of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations opened the ceremony with a round drum and vocal performance that filled the aisles and then the stage, followed by a blistering two-song set by Métis fiddler and Juno nominee Brianna Lizotte.
The 2025 Juno Awards Gala took place on March 29, co-hosted by CBC Music Mornings host Damhnait Doyle and actor Supinder Wraich. More than 40 awards were given out, including some history-making wins and some firsts for Nemahsis, Snotty Nose Rez Kids and Lowell.
David Suzuki also presented Sarah Harmer with the Humanitarian Award, but not before co-host Doyle called him an "environmental daddy."
"I was thrilled to meet Sarah Harmer at an event opposing a gravel pit on the Niagara Escarpment, and when she sang Escarpment Blues I saw that she understood the message of environmentalism," Suzuki said, later adding: "But what moved me most was her love of the Escarpment as part of her home, and her passion to fulfill a responsibility to protect that bit of the planet."
We have a full rundown of last night's big event, and you can watch the performances via CBC Music's YouTube page.
March 28: Juno Songwriters' Circle, Block Party Night 2 and Junofest Night 1
The Juno Songwriters' Circle is one of the week's most beloved events, and the 2025 edition did not disappoint. Hosted by Elamin Abdelmahmoud, the evening featured performances and stories in the first hour by Sarah Harmer, Lowell, Dylan Sinclair and Alexander Stewart, followed by an hour with Elisapie, Leif Vollebekk, Luna Li and Nemahsis.
Lowell set the perfect tone with a gorgeous, slowed-down version of Texas Hold 'Em, which she co-wrote with Beyoncé and fellow Torontonian Nathan Ferraro — and which is nominated for both a Grammy and a Juno. She talked about studying the craft of songwriting for years when she moved to L.A., and how when she wrote Texas Hold 'Em she was able to meld "old Lowell," who performed and released her own music, with "professional Lowell," who writes hits for other artists.
"I think songwriting is about giving and sharing your experience," she said later in the set, about who she writes for. "Can mom cry to this? Can grandma cry to this? The more people you touch, the more you're doing your job as an artist speaking to the world."
Sinclair, who is up for contemporary R&B recording of the year for his album For the Boy In Me, sat down at the piano to play the stunning song Forever. When asked about the inspiration for the name of his Juno-nominated album, he at first joked: "I wasn't pregnant."
"It was a channelling of my younger self, and I wanted to, as a singer-songwriter it comes down to who do you make music for," he explained. "And beyond just making the music for me, it was about making music for my younger self."
Harmer, who filled the room with her songs One Match and St. Peter's Bay, confessed that her environmental activism in "trying to protect land … and endangered species and water for the long term" — for which she's receiving the Humanitarian Award this weekend — can be all-consuming.
"Sometimes, it really takes away from doing music, because it can really be full-time …. And then sometimes you write songs that relate to what you're learning on that front and try and make them soulful and relatable."
To start the second set, Elisapie, who translated personally pivotal classic rock and pop songs from the '60s to '90s into Inuktitut for her Juno-nominated album named after her language, played a moving version of her song Uummati Attanarsimat (Heart of Glass), which ended with an audience sing-along.
"I realized the memories I have are not just sad, they're not just beautiful, they're a mix of all those things. And I think Inuit, since we were nomads in the '60s, music and radio became very important … and I love saying I stole music from white people," she said, laughing, while describing how her childhood memories in Salluit, Que., fuelled her choice of songs for the album. "And they just became our songs, and I found this filter in order to really bring these songs back home to the people who really listened to them. And hopefully they will remember and heal through these very popular songs."
Nemahsis, who has frequently told her story about being dropped from a label in October 2023 for being a Palestinian artist, finished the set with Miss Construed, delicately backed on guitar by Benja.
"I think before I was born, before I decided to wear a hijab, before any decision that I made, there's already a stereotype in the world of how I should be perceived," she said. "And, you know, you can try to rewrite that and try to convince people otherwise, but there's a moment that you have to accept that not everybody's gonna love you, not everybody's gonna want to understand you, but you have to put your art in the world."
Miss Construed, she said, was the favourite song of the CEO who dropped her from the label. "That was the song that he heard that he signed me over. And then four business days later dropped me, and I was misconstrued," she said. "He regretted it after and said, 'I'm so sorry,' and I said, 'No, I'm going to take this album and get nominated for three Junos."
If you want to hear the Juno Songwriters' Circle and all the incredible performances, tune in to CBC Music on Sunday, March 30, at 6 p.m. AT, 5 p.m. ET, 4 p.m. CT, 1 p.m. MT and 7 p.m. PT.
Over at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the second night of the Juno Block Party commenced as an excited crowd gathered to see a lineup of artists including AR Paisley and Snotty Nose Rez Kids.
Rapper AR Paisley was clad in an all-white outfit and performed songs including Only You, Go to Sleep and more. He encouraged the crowd to wave along as he rapped, and many obliged, swaying and stretching their arms into the air. As he made his way across the stage, he took time to also pose for selfies with fans at the barricade, hyping them up.
When he finally played the rapid-fire track Drippy, he joyfully singled out a concertgoer in the crowd who was enthusiastically rapping along to every word.
Haisla hip-hop duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids closed out the night with a dynamic set, and the crowd packed in tightly to see rappers Darren "Young D" Metz and Quinton "Yung Trybez" Nyce take the stage. Decked out in black leather jackets, they oozed swagger. They performed songs from their most recent album, Red Future, including BBE and Peaches, taking their stage presence to new heights with their animated and swift delivery.
"God damn, it feels good to be back home in Vancouver," Young D said as the audience cheered. A fan in the front row holding a Red Future vinyl nodded and smiled along.
DJ and producer Boogey the Beat, who frequently collabs with the duo, also was onstage with his turntables to support the pair with his hypnotic beats.
Across town, Junofest began with a number of artists hitting the stage in various venues around the city, performing their songs in bars, theatres, restaurants and more.
At Hollywood Theatre, drum group Northern Cree gave a moving performance of songs including Earth Angel and Red and White.
"That beat resounds in everything we do," member Steve Wood told the audience.
Their drums thundered in unison as they sang under red-and-blue lights, their colourful outfits adding vibrancy to the performance. With every song, the audience inched closer to the stage, cheering as Wood shared anecdotes about some of their songs being "a little bit of First Nations rock and roll."
Northern Cree was then joined by blues duo Blue Moon Marquee to perform songs together. Singer-guitarist A.W. Cardinal perched on a stool with his guitar while Northern Cree gathered together around a drum in the middle of the stage. Vocalist and bassist Jasmine Colette jammed away on her bass on the opposite side, and the result was a beautiful swirl of swampy, horn-tinged blues and powerful drumming.
"We are so honoured to perform with Northern Cree," she told the audience.
March 27: Q live and Block Party Night 1
Q with Tom Power hosted its first live show since pre-pandemic times in Vancouver, and it was a sold-out night at the Hollywood Theatre. The stacked event included an interview with Sum 41's Deryck Whibley, and a mix of interviews and performances by Peach Pit, Lowell, Jonita Gandhi, Darcy Michael, Aqyila, Debra DiGiovanni and Ivan Decker.
Lowell, who co-wrote Beyoncé's Texas Hold 'Em and was recently recognized at the Grammys for it, talked about fighting for one of this year's brand new Juno categories: songwriter of the year, non-performer. "I feel like there's a space for us to shine and for people to notice what we've been doing already," she explained.
"I think it's really important that we do acknowledge the backbone of the industry, which is songwriters," she told Power.
Sum 41's Whibley sat down for a chat with Power in the first half of the evening, and talked about a key turning point for the band: when the video for Fat Lip came out.
"The video just took off everywhere, and then in every possible way, everything changed," he said. "Everybody knew the band's name, everybody recognized us on the street, all of a sudden we were selling records. Although it takes a long time for you to make money even when you're doing very well, because this is the way the system works: the record company keeps a lot of it until it trickles down to you. So we weren't really making a lot of money, we were still living in our parents' house but we were kind of like famous — but like living in our mom's basement?" he confessed, laughing.
And over at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Night 1 of the second annual Juno Block Party kicked off with a sweet lineup that included Tia Wood, Loony, Raman Bains and Wild Rivers.
The 2025 Juno Awards will take place on March 30 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, and broadcast live on CBC-TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One, CBC Music, CBC Listen and globally at CBCMusic.ca/junos.
