Assessing the 2007 Juno Awards nominees

Rapper k-os is nominated in five Juno Award categories this year for his album Atlantis: Hymns for Disco. (Jeremy R. Jansen/EMI) Right now, k-os and the members of Billy Talent are probably walking with a little strut in their step.

And why not – both artists are headed to the in Saskatoon with five nominations apiece. Still, they’ll have a hard time upstaging Nelly Furtado. Not only is the Victoria-born songstress also nominated five times – for Single of the Year (Promiscuous), Album of the Year (Loose), Pop Album of the Year, Artist of the Year and Juno Fan Choice of the Year – she’s the big shoo on April 1.

I don’t begrudge her the honour, but the set-up feels a little gratuitous. Yes, yes, we’re all proud of Nelly – not only did Loose produce two boffo singles (Promiscuous and Maneater), it’s currently one of the best-selling albums on the planet. Having owned the Canadian charts in 2006, Furtado is a shoo-in for at least a couple of statuettes – so was it really necessary that she host her own coronation?

I reckon that between her emceeing duties and her various nominations, scarcely five minutes will pass without a word either from her or about her. (I wouldn’t discount a performance, either.) Even so, Furtado seems a sounder choice than last year’s host, Pamela Anderson, who used the Juno stage as a platform to berate the East Coast seal hunt.

Killjoy!
In between Nelly moments, Billy Talent will likely walk off with two awards – Group of the Year and Rock Album of the Year (Billy Talent II). K-os could well pocket a couple of J’s himself, but he’s unlikely to best Furtado for pop album (Atlantis: Hymns for Disco) or single (Sunday Morning).

To complement his two nominations at the Grammy Awards this coming weekend, Cape Breton tunesmith is vying for Songwriter of the Year – and might indeed take it from competitors including Sarah Harmer and Ron Sexsmith. Now established in Nashville’s songwriter pools, Sampson co-wrote Carrie Underwood’s Jesus, Take the Wheel, one of the prevailing country hits of ‘06.
There’s no obvious darling in the Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral Performance category, which pits tenor titan Ben Heppner (Wagner Arias) against soaring sopranos Measha Brueggergosman (Extase) and Isabel Bayrakdarian (Mozart: Aie e Duetti).

Diana Krall’s From This Moment On seems a cinch for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year, except she’s up against Toronto’s Elizabeth Shepherd, whose debut disc, Start to Move, was a fresh and infectious take on a century-old music form. The contemporary jazz album category boasts a couple of mainstays (Hilario Duran, Richard Underhill). Too bad they passed over the fierce debut by Toronto’s .

One of the most exciting categories this year is Alternative Album of the Year, which features bracing upstart talents such as Edmonton’s Shout Out Out Out, Calgary one-man-band and scrappy franco-punks . New Group of the Year is Mobile’s to lose, given that the Montreal band’s single Out of My Head was an absolute scorcher. Rap Recording of the Year, typically one of the most fascinating races in any given Juno year, feels uninspired.

Swollen Members? C’mon. And where’s Edmonton’s Cadence Weapon, who was shortlisted for the inaugural Polaris Prize?

Indeed, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) often shows a woeful lack of imagination – I’m thinking of the multiple nominations for the Tragically Hip (for group and rock album), Chantal Kreviazuk (single and pop album) and Nickelback (songwriter and Juno fan choice). CARAS members were apparently so stumped in the Pop Album of the Year category, they felt it necessary to include Sarah McLachlan’s Christmas album, Wintersong. (I wish it were an April Fool’s joke.

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The Juno dark horse is Montreal pop merchant , who is vying for Album of the Year, Artist of the Year and Juno Fan Choice. A newcomer to English-Canadian ears, Charles’s disc, I Think of You, was the second-best-selling album in Canada in 2006, behind Nelly’s Loose.
While the 2007 Juno Awards are unequivocal in their Nelly-love, the broadcast could still provide some unpredictable thrills.

Furtado is used to letting her hits do the talking. On April 1, she’ll be vocalizing without accompaniment, carrying the show on force of personality rather than reputation or the swiveling of her hips.
The 2007 Juno Awards take place in Saskatoon on April 1.

Andre Mayer writes about the arts for CBC.ca.
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Doris Anderson, the longtime editor of Chatelaine who used the magazine to bring women's rights to the forefront, died in Toronto on Friday at the age of 85.