Juno Master Class

Now in its eighth year, the Allan Slaight Juno Master Class continues to support and champion emerging Canadian talent. The program selects a handful of acts out of hundreds of applicants, and puts them through a program designed to make them better performers, and better equipped to tackle the challenges that a career in music might send their way. The winners confer with some of the top professionals in the industry, have an opportunity to record, and get a trip to the Juno Awards where they’ll showcase and one artist will be chosen to perform at the Saturday night awards gala.

Haviah Mighty

Haviah Mighty didn’t need to change her birth name when she decided to dedicate her career to music. Mighty could not better describe Haviah’s craft of provocative challenges and uncompromising truths.  Based out of Brampton via Toronto, Haviah has spent a lifetime developing her skills as a songwriter, vocalist, producer, and performer, culminating in a style of profound introspection and incisive socio-political critique. 

Sam Lynch

Sam Lynch is a Vancouver based singer-songwriter and musician, who makes wallflower hush-rock songs that will stare you down and slow your breathing. Since 2017 she has been gathering a dedicated audience by way of her confessional songwriting and emotionally evocative live performances. After a busy couple years of domestic and international touring—opening for Andy Shauf, Noah Gunderson, Alice Phoebe-Lou, Mother Mother, and more—Lynch partnered with Montreal-based producer Samuel Woywitka on  her debut album “Little Disappearance”, out now via Birthday Cake.

MONOWHALES

Exploding onto the scene with a DIY ethos and an unforgettable live show, MONOWHALES have spent the last three years firmly establishing themselves as one of the most exciting new bands on the Canadian musical landscape. Their debut EP Control Freak, produced by Al-P (Death From Above 1979, Young Empires), and released in the summer of 2018, spawned numerous singles including standout track Take It Back.

Caveboy

With a fresh yet nostalgic perspective on alternative pop Montreal’s Caveboy root themselves in the timeless music of their parents’ generation and pack joyful energy into an unforgettable live set. The trio has built a strong fanbase with their electrifying performances at SXSW, Osheaga, the Pre-Grammy Celebration of Canadian Excellence, the JUNO Gala Awards, Halifax Pop Explosion, M for Montreal, and support for Japanese Breakfast, Tash Sultana, Ria Mae, Cub Sport, and Wintersleep. Their songs have been heard in Orange Is The New Black, Maid, The Sex Lives of College Girls, Twenty Somethings: Austin, Big Sky, The New Romantic, Killjoys, Happiest Season, and Jump, Darling. 

Neon Dreams

Frank Kadillac and drummer Adrian Morris have been making music together under under the Neon Dreams moniker since 2015, garnering a gold single in “Marching Bands,” accumulating tens of millions of streams, and winning numerous Canadian awards.  In 2019, the duo released Sweet Dream till Sunbeams—an album comprising nine uplifting songs about not fitting in and overcoming adversity—and have continued to drop new material this year, covering subjects from Kadillac’s painful youth to his mother beating cancer. Though they consider themselves to be “alt-pop,” Neon Dreams’ music can’t be pigeonholed. Kadillac likes to describe their sound as “if Adam Levigne and Gym Class Heroes made a band that was influenced by early 2000s, late ‘90s inspirational coming of age movie soundtracks.”

Sebastian Gaskin

Sebastian Gaskin is a multi-instrumentalist R&B singer-songwriter based in Winnipeg, Canada, who grew up in Tataskweyak Cree Nation, or Split Lake as it’s better known. Sebastian writes and self produces music that is anything but formulaic, thanks to eclectic musical tastes in R&B, Hip Hop, Metal,and Punk. The Winnipeg Free Press says: “...think Post Malone mixed with Frank Ocean, all swag and smooth vocals, hits of hip-hop and rap, rounded out with emotive thoughtful lyrics.” Gaskin is the recipient of the 2021 Western Canadian Music Award for R&B Artist of the Year, the 2021 Kevin Walters Songwriting Award, and was also chosen to attend the 2021 Allan Slaight Juno Masterclass.