3 picks for female Canadian musicians overlooked by Junos
No women nominated in either album or artist of the year categories
Every Saturday evening at 5 p.m., CBC Radio's In the Key C highlights arts and culture in Ontario. In light of the Juno nominations on Monday, this week's show focuses on musicians and bands nominated for the Canadian music awards.
But it's important to note, a lot of names were left off the roster for nominees this year, many of them women. So instead of bringing you my regular list of new releases this week, I'm highlighting female artists I think should have received Juno nods.
Carly Rae Jepsen
First up is perhaps the mostly notable absentee on the ballot, Carly Rae Jepsen.
The British Columbia native released her third album Emotion to critical acclaim last June, and cracked top forty lists in Canada, Australia and Japan.
Jepsen has a loyal fan base who managed to get her recognized in the Juno's fan's choice category, but there were no mentions in the juried Juno categories including Pop Album of the Year.
From the upbeat, 80s inspired album Emotion, this is 'Run Away With Me.'
Julie Arsenault and Tisha Myles
Toronto-based musician Julie Arsenault is just breaking into the Canadian music scene, with her debut album The Creature That I Call Myself.
Arsenault has a beautiful voice, reminiscent of Angel Olsen, and I think her video for 'Island Girl' would have made a worthy addition to the Video of the Year nominations.
The video was made by Arsenault and her roommate, Tisha Myles, who is an artist and director. It features Arsenault made-up to look like painted portraits and as she sings, they slowly come to life.
Allie X
My final pick is in reference to some of the Twitter backlash the Junos generated.
Stars' front woman Amy Millan started the hashtag #JunosSoMale pointing out the absence of women in a number of Juno categories.
Claire Boucher, known as musician and producer Grimes, also called out the awards for not featuring more women in technical roles, like production and engineering.
"I can't help but feel that if women were equally rewarded for technical work they would feel inclined to participate more," Boucher said in a tweet which she later deleted.
Boucher then went on to list some of the female producers in Canada that she admires and among them was Allie X.
Allie X, or Alexandra Hughes, was born in Oakville, and studied, among other places, at Sheridan College. Here's a song she released on her soundcloud this week called 'Old Habits Die Hard.'