A Canadian Leads the 2022 BBMA Nominations
Nominations for the 2022 Billboard Music Awards have been announced. Bear in mind that they are based on the performance of material on the US Billboard charts only, and as we have seen through the years, tastes in music differ from country to country. Three Canadians fare well this year – all male soloists. In fact, leading the entire pack is The Weeknd with 17. Justin Bieber has 13 and Drake 11. American artists include the supposedly retired Doja Cat (14) and Kanye West and Olivia Rodrigo (13 each). Brits Dua Lipa and Ed Sheeran have a respectable nine. Australia’s The Kid Laroi has eight. South Korean group BTS has seven as do Americans Givēon and Taylor Swift. The most decorated artist in the history of the BBMAs is Drake with 29 wins. Taylor Swift is second with 25, and Justin Bieber is third with 21. Those awards will be held in Sin City the same night as the JUNO awards (May 15) are held in the city that rhymes with piranha, testing Canadians’ loyalties.
Shania Joins the Styles of 1D
Canadian icon Shania Twain surprised the crowd by joining former One Direction member and current soloist Harry Styles of Britain on stage in the American California desert. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is an annual event that always promises a huge lineup of performers. This year’s Canadian contingent includes The Weeknd, Carly Rae Jepsen, Arcade Fire, Daphni/ Caribou, Badbadnotgood, Jessie Reyez, Orville Peck, Belly, Ali Gatie, and Daniel Caesar. Shania popped in unexpectedly during the conclusion of Harry’s set when he began performing her song “Man, I Feel Like a Woman”. The Commonwealth siblings sang the classic together. After this, they took seats and Styles said, “In the car, with my mother as a child, this lady taught me to sing … To you, for the memories you gave me with my mother, I will be forever grateful.” Twain responded, “I am so honoured and thrilled to be here … I’m a bit star-struck – what can I say?” Harry and Shania then sang the latter’s “You’re Still the One”.
Deborah Cox Tapped for the MHF
Toronto R&B star Deborah Cox is this year’s inductee into the Music Hall of Fame. The Debster first charted within the realm of the RPM Top 40 in the year 1996 with hits “Who Do U Love” (#15) and “Sentimental” (#33). Those two songs made a mark internationally as well, making the Top 40 in the United Kingdom. “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here” (see its MV below) reached #21 at home in 1998 and stands as her biggest hit in the United States where it peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Cox released five albums between 1995 and 2008. Her debut self-titled work is certified platinum, and her 1998 followup One Wish sits at gold.
Deborah is perhaps best known domestically for her 2008 Top 10 hit “Beautiful U R”, a platinum digital download. Cox has won a total of three JUNO awards, all from the late 90s and in the Best R&B/Soul Recording category. The currently flourishing R&B scene in Toronto, which has produced such global superstars as The Weeknd, owes much to Deborah Cox who helped kickstart the genre in a 90s scene heavily dominated by rock favourites like Alanis Morissette, Amanda Marshall, and the Tragically Hip.
Among The Boyz Are Two Canadians
An objective of Canadian Music Blog has always been to highlight Asian Canadian recording artists in a western music scene that is predominantly a Blacks and Whites only club. Some of these talents choose to take a stab at success in the English language market at home while others relocate abroad to make their mark in Asian language music. The three predominant subsets of the latter are C-Pop (Chinese language pop music), J-Pop (Japanese), and, now familiar to western audiences, K-Pop (Korean). As far as we know, there is very little Canadian artist involvement in J-Pop currently but very significant involvement in C-Pop. Largely unacknowledged by the Canadian media, there are a number of Canadian artists killing it in K-Pop.
What follows is by no means a complete list.
We have profiled Henry Lau in the past. Born and raised in Toronto, he is Chinese Canadian but infiltrated the K-Pop scene with great success. Wendy of popular girl group Red Velvet and YoungK from boy band Day6 were plucked from Canada by South Korean entertainment companies. Mark of groups NCT and SuperM was born in Toronto and grew up in Vancouver. Tablo attended high school in Canada and Stratford University before debuting with South Korean trio Epik High. Canadian born (Jeon) Somi dabbled in a few K-Pop girl groups before going solo. She released her debut album XOXO in 2021.
Here, we introduce Jacob and Kevin (see photo above) who are two Canadian members of K-Pop group The Boyz which broke through in South Korea last year with a triad of Top 40 hits including the #6 song “Maverick”. See the MV below. But first, a little on these two fine young gentlemen.
Jacob was born in Toronto in 1997 and into sports at a young age, particularly basketball and volleyball. He won an MVP award in the latter. He plays guitar, piano, and drums. In The Boyz, Jacob serves as one of the vocalists and is also skilled in beatboxing.
Kevin was born in Vancouver in 1998. He attended the same elementary school as Michael Bublé and won the “Bublé Prize” in Grade 7 due to his musical abilities. He acts as the main vocalist of The Boyz. Kevin plays piano, guitar, and saxophone and loves to draw. He also knows how to tap dance.
We wish these Canadians continued success with The Boyz!
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