Juno Awards 2025: Meet Vancouver nominees Bbno$ and Ekkstacy​on March 14, 2025 at 6:00 pm

From host Michael Bublé to Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees Sum 41 and The Weeknd, the 2025 Juno Awards are loaded with familiar faces.

But the country’s national music honours also highlight artists working from coast-to-coast-to-coast that aren’t household names — yet.

Last year, Surrey singer Karan Aujla won the TikTok Juno Fan Choice Award and was catapulted into cross-country recognition that led to arena touring.

This year, the Punjabi pop star is nominated in the Single of the Year category, as well as the newly created South Asian Music Recording of the Year category. Aujla is also back in the TikTok Fan Choice category, which includes megastars like The Weeknd and veteran country singer Dean Brody, as well as Vancouver SoundCloud rapper bbno$.

Anyone scratching their heads asking ‘who’ clearly hasn’t heard the MC’s global 2021 album eat ya veggies or his hit single edamame with 88Rising’s Rich Brien. The tune has passed six-times platinum in Australia, Canada, Finland and Indonesia, and gold in the U.S.

With appearances at Coachella and Late Night With Jimmy Kimmel, it’s well about time that the artist born Alexander Leon Gumuchian, whose moniker reads ‘baby no money,’ became far more familiar to listeners.

Reached on the phone before a Mardi Gras gig in New Orleans, bbno$ had just dropped his new single: Antidepressents.

“It’s the sixth time that I’ve been nominated for a Juno and I do have a marketing strategy coming in that could work,” said bbno$. “But I’m up against The Weeknd and Tate McRae, so yeah. But I think I’m established as a part of Canadian culture and I love the Junos and I’m bringing my parents this year.”

Last summer, bbno$ headlined a showcase of similar artists at the Malkin Bowl. Titled Baby’s Bonanza, the multi-artist show was unique as both a celebration of DIY hip-hop acts, as well as donating proceeds from the gig to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre. That kind of civic mindedness is just part and parcel of the artist’s ethos. It’s working.

“I’ve already annihilated my goals for the year, so everything now is just fun and games,” he said. “I keep on dropping songs and my fans keep on eating it up and I’ve never been so blessed. I want to tour the world with my music and that’s why I do so many international collaborations because it gives me a base in other places and makes me new friends.”