The 2008 Juno Awards: Avril, Profanities, Feist, Christmas Albums, And A Dude Named Belly

Jess Harvell | February 5, 2008 3:30 am
gwn.jpg

The announcement of the nominees for the 2008 Juno Awards–“Canada’s Music Awards”–makes us wonder: Why do the Junos slay the Grammys this year? Well, it’s because we don’t actually have to live-blog the broadcast, where the canned dialogue will probably be less awkward but feature just as many quasi-celebrities tsk-tsk’ing us over illegal downloading. And it’s also because they’ve brought together neo-krautrockers Holy Fuck and Tom “Life Is A Highway” Cochrane for the first (and likely last) time. (And the fact that Cochrane and Neil Young are apparently “adult alternative” now.) And it’s also also because the nominees for “Best International Album” seem chosen specifically for their SoundScan numbers. (The Josh Groban Christmas album??) And it’s also also also because the nominees include a band called God Made Me Funky and a rapper named Belly. And it’s definitely also also also also because it’s an awards ceremony where Leslie Feist is for once not up against indie rock bands and crossover dubstep producers, but Celine Dion. And Michael Bublé. And Avril. Which seems more, we dunno, fitting. (Speaking of Avril: we guess that out-of-court settlement with the Rubinoos means there’s nothing hinky with Lukasz Gottwald being nominated for “Songwriter Of The Year” for Avril’s “Girlfriend.”) Too many categories to list in full, but we’ve included some of our favorite match-ups after the jump.

ADULT ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR Blue Rodeo SMALL MIRACLES Jeremy Fisher GOODBYE BLUE MONDAY Neil Young CHROME DREAMS II Rufus Wainwright RELEASE THE STARS Tom Cochrane NO STRANGER

ALBUM OF THE YEAR Avril Lavigne THE BEST DAMN THING Céline Dion D’ELLES Celine Dion TAKING CHANCES Feist THE REMINDER Michael Bublé CALL ME IRRESPONSIBLE

ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR Arcade Fire NEON BIBLE Holy Fuck LP Patrick Watson CLOSE TO PARADISE Tegan and Sara THE CON Wintersleep WELCOME TO THE NIGHT SKY

ARTIST OF THE YEAR Avril Lavigne Celine Dion Feist Michael Bublé Pascale Picard

DANCE RECORDING OF THE YEAR Billy Newton-Davis vs. Deadmau5 ALL YOU EVER WANT Chromeo FANCY FOOTWORK Hatiras POPPIN’ BEATS Melleefresh vs. Deadmau5 AFTER HOURS Nick Fiorucci EVERY TIME YOU MOVE

FRANCOPHONE ALBUM OF THE YEAR Céline Dion D’ELLES Damien Robitaille L’HOMME QUI ME RESSEMBLE Daniel Bélanger L’éCHEC DU MATéRIEL Isabelle Boulay DE RETOUR à LA SOURCE Jorane VERS à SOI

GROUP OF THE YEAR Arcade Fire Blue Rodeo Finger Eleven Hedley Kaïn

INTERNATIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR Bon Jovi LOST HIGHWAY Fergie THE DUTCHESS Josh Groban NOEL Rihanna GOOD GIRL GONE BAD Timbaland TIMBALAND PRESENTS SHOCK VALUE

2008 Juno Awards [Official Site]

Tags: