2024 Junos artists share the Canadian musicians they dream of collaborating with, from Drake to Feist
Stars like Allison Russell, Brett Kissel and Elisapie opened up on the red carpet at the Juno Awards in Halifax
Some of the best artists in Canadian music opened up at the 2024 Junos about the next singers they want to collaborate with — and some of their answers may surprise you.
Speaking to Yahoo Canada at the 53rd Juno Awards in Halifax on Sunday, stars walking the red carpet mentioned big Canadian names in music, including Drake, Avril Lavigne and Michael Bublé.
But several artists at this year's awards show were in agreement about who they're dreaming about working with in the future. As the host of the 2024 Junos, Nelly Furtado was naturally a name many attendees picked, including Toronto-based DJ Bambii, "Canada's Drag Race" winner Venus and rapper TOBi.
A few stars on the red carpet also admitted to wanting to collaborate with Nova Scotian-born musician Feist. Reggae musician Jah'Mila said the "1234" singer is "magical, she is conscious and she is so expansive in the range of things that she's capable of doing." Inuk musician Elisapie added that Feist is her "true hero."
Artists like Toronto-native R&B singer Dylan Sinclair, Juno-nominee LU KALA, Ottawa-born musician TALK and rapper Drake were also mentioned on people's dream collaborations multiple times.
"There's just so much Canadian talent. At this point, we're over pouring with it and I want to work with all of them," LU KALA told Yahoo Canada, while also mentioning stars like The Weeknd and Jessie Reyez as people she hopes to collaborate with at some point.
That sentiment rang true in other people's answers, where other Canadians — both pop stars and up-and-coming artists — were part of people's collaboration wishlist.
With more than 20 nominations this year, Indigenous artists saw a record number of nods, and various artists reflected that support in their answers.
Grammy-winning artist Allison Russell mentioned Aysanabee, William Prince, Shawnee Kish, Logan Staats and Julian Taylor: "We're paying tribute to Robbie Robertson together tonight. I'm thrilled because they're all artists I've wanted to collaborate and work with. This feels like such a special year to be part of, the fact that it's the most Indigenous nominees and winners we've ever had at the Junos. ... It's such a hopeful, beautiful, healing thing."
Nimkii Osawamick, who's part of First Nations group Nimkii & The Niniis and brought Anishinaabe activist Sarain Fox to the event, noted he grew up listening to electronic music and that he'd love to work with The Halluci Nation or Mohawk producer DJ Shub.
Other artists on the red carpet also shared they hope to eventually work with Canadians including Shania Twain, Celine Dion, Daniel Caesar, Jann Arden, Anne Murray, Kardinal Offishall, Dominque Fils-Aimé, Shay Lia, ZENESOUL, Classified, Connor Price, Arkells, Sum 41 and The Beaches.
This year's awards show saw a few artists win big, including Charlotte Cardin for Album of the Year and Pop Album of the Year, The Beaches for Group of the Year and TALK for Breakthrough Artist of the Year.