A few Surrey-area musicians are among JUNO Awards nominees ahead of the 2025 event in Vancouver at the end of March.
Finalists for the inaugural South Asian Music Recording of the Year Award include the Surrey trio of Chani Nattan, Inderpal Moga and Jazzy B for "Coolin," along with Karan Aujla ("Tauba Tauba," from “Bad Newz”), AP Dhillon ("The Brownprint"), Jonita Gandhi ("Love Like That) and the duo of Yanchan Produced and Sandeep Narayan ("Arul").
Announced Tuesday (Feb. 11), nominees for the 54th JUNOS include headliners Tate McRae and Josh Ross (five nominations each), plus Shawn Mendes and The Weeknd (four each). All nominees are posted on junoawards.ca.
The Junos will air on CBC live from Vancouver’s Rogers Arena on March 30, with pop crooner Michael Bublé hosting. Rock band Sum 41, which recently wrapped a farewell tour, will be a Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee that Sunday night.
In the Country Album of the Year category, Surrey-raised Tyler Joe Miller is JUNO-nominated for "Going Home" along with Dallas Smith, Josh Ross, Brett Kissel and MacKenzie Porter.
"It’s an absolute honour that 'Going Home' is up for a Juno Award for Country Album Of The Year!" Miller posted to Facebook. "This couldn’t be a more fitting album for a born and raised Surrey boy with the JUNO Awards being held in Vancouver this year, home turf baby."
2024 was a career-building year for Chani Nattan, a Surrey-based musician/lyricist who signed with Warner Music's 91 North Records last May and was Spotify Canada’s RADAR artist for the month of August. Nattan was schooled at Princess Margaret Secondary before making his mark in the music world. In 2021 Nattan wrote the lyrics for Umbrella, a big hit for Indian singer/actor Diljit Dosanjh, who in April packed BC Place Stadium with adoring fans for a landmark concert.
In September, some Surrey-area musicians and backers celebrated news from CARAS that a South Asian Music Recording of the Year award had been added for the 2025 JUNO Awards in Vancouver.
Last March, Punjabi-Canadian artist Karan Aujla, who once worked in Surrey as a longshoreman, took home the TikTok JUNO Fan Choice award — a bittersweet moment for organizers of the 5X Fest, a festival of South Asian music and art in Surrey and Vancouver. "Although it was heartwarming to see (Aujla) take the stage to perform and to receive this award, we couldn't help but notice the lack representation for South Asian artists across all of the nominated categories, so we spoke about it publicly," on Instagram.
On Saturday, March 15, the JUNO Awards hype train will stop in Surrey for a one-day Plaza Party, two weeks ahead of the Canadian music awards event in Vancouver. Organizers of the free-admission festival promise some of Canada’s and Surrey’s top musicians at Surrey Civic Plaza, a Saturday stop on a six-city Let’s Hear it BC JUNO Tour featuring 30 artists on six stages, from 2 to 10 p.m., along with food trucks, exhibitors and other attractions.
The event will have a Main Stage outside Surrey City Hall, a 5X Art Party with South Asian DJs, family programming on a community stage and local musicians performing throughout the site, City Centre Library and Dominion restaurant at Civic Hotel. Look for details on surrey.ca/junosplazaparty.
