After Canadian indie rockers Arcade Fire stunned with their Album of the Year win for “The Suburbs” at the Grammy Awards last month, it was no surprise when they won a leading four awards Sunday at Canada’s equivalent kudos — the Juno Awards. The Montreal-based band won Best Album, Best Group, Best Alternative Album and Best Songwriting at the 40th annual edition of the awards.
Among those Arcade Fire bested for the top prize was Canadian-born Justin Bieber who had to settle for Best Pop Album (“My World 2.0”) and the Fan Choice award. To win that, Bieber outpolled Drake, another of the Grammy also-rans for Best New Artist, in the popular vote. Drake also failed to win over the members of the recording academy, losing all five of his competitive races.
Both Bieber and Drake as well as Sarah MacLachlan and Johnny Reid lost Best Artist to veteran performer Neil Young who was also feted with an honorary award for his philanthropy as well as Best Adult Alternative Album (“Le Noise”). The awards were staged at the Air Canada arena in Toronto and aired on private broadcaster CTV.
For a full list of winners, visit the official website.
