What to know
- CARAS and CBC announced that Joni Mitchell will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, while Nelly Furtado will enter the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at next year’s JUNO Awards.
- Music commentator Eric Alper says Mitchell’s influence makes her a fitting and historic choice for the award.
- Furtado’s Hall of Fame induction recognizes her global success and genre versatility, even as she steps back from music to pursue other creative paths.
- Expert says honouring two trailblazing women spotlights Canada’s musical excellence and offers inspiration to emerging female artists across the industry.
Canadian singer-songwriters Joni Mitchell and Nelly Furtado are set to be honoured at the 55th JUNO Awards with special awards, marking a monumental moment for Canadian women in music.
On Monday, CARAS and CBC made the announcement, revealing that next year’s celebration will honour Mitchell with a Life Achievement Award and Furtado with an induction to the Canadian Hall of Fame.
The Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by National Arts Centre, recognizes artists whose contributions have had long-standing global impact. The highly-exclusive award was only received by two other artists, including Pierre Juneau in 1989 and Anne Murray in 2025.
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JONI MITCHELL GRANTED LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Alberta-born singer-songwriter Mitchell emerged in the 1960s, and quickly became popular for her unconventional and personal lyrics in songs that incorporated elements of jazz, rock, folk, and other genres. Throughout her career, she has received four JUNO Awards, 11 Grammy Awards, an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and more.
Music Commentator Eric Alper tells Now Toronto he believes Mitchell is a great choice for the third artist to be honoured with this achievement, especially considering her groundbreaking influence, especially with unconventional lyrics and mixing of styles.
“She was one of the very first successful songwriters to really write raw and honest poetry that went into some personal emotions that were complex as humans are,” he said.
“We take it for granted [that] a lot of the women artists today like Addison Rae or Tate McRae or Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift or Charlie xcx get to talk about what is going on in their lives in a real, personal way. Joni Mitchell was doing it first, and she was doing it almost better than anybody else on the planet.”
Alper explains that although in the 60s and 70s many record labels were focused on reproducing success, Mitchell still insisted on being different and leaving her mark. Her signature move of never staying with one single style and fluctuating between rock, jazz, folk, and pop influenced artists for generations to come after her.
“The other massive part is that her guitar playing blew every other guitar player away. She used real complex and unconventional open open guitar tunings to compensate for the fact that she had polio as a child, and that became her signature sound,” he added.
According to Alper, entering the Canadian Music Hall of Fame used to be the ultimate achievement eyed by artists in the country. However, the introduction of the Lifetime Achievement quickly changed this reality, pushing the honour one step forward, and even giving artists more opportunities to be recognized abroad.
“When you have the Lifetime Achievement, it’s almost like a body of work that still makes it relevant to what you’re doing now. And I think in terms of Joni, certainly in the last five years or so, we’ve seen her influence get bigger and bigger and bigger,” he said.
“It’s worldwide. It’s people from the U.K., and the biggest media [outlets] in America are covering it.”
NELLY FURTADO TO BE INDUCTED IN CANADIAN HALL OF FAME
Beloved artist Nelly Furtado is also named another one of next year’s honourees, set to be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
Singer-songwriter Furtado is popular for her versatility and experimentation between genres, having sold over 35 million albums across the globe. The artist has already received 10 JUNO Awards, one Grammy, one Latin Grammy, one BRIT Award, and more.
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On the 25th anniversary of her first album’s debut last month, Furtado announced her retirement from the music industry in an Instagram post. Thanking fans for their support, the artist said she would be focusing on “other creative and personal endeavours,” without making it clear whether she plans to go back to the stage in the future.
“I have enjoyed my career immensely, and I still love writing music as I have always seen it as a hobby I was lucky enough to make into a career. I’ll identify as a songwriter forever,” she wrote.
For Alper, the Canadian Hall of Fame recognition comes as a reminder of Furtado’s excellence in the industry, as well as a painful indicator that she could still do more.
“It made me sad to know that she is really still at the top of her game, and being recognized in the Hall of Fame just made me realize [that] again,” he said. “She was so amazing at blending styles of music, like Hip-Hop and folk and pop music and R&B, and global and world music.”
With hits like Promiscuous and Say it right, a Spanish-language album, and remarkable collaborations with artists like James Morrison, as well as fusing pop and Hip-Hop with dance elements, Alper explains that Furtado “set the blueprint” in pop music, especially in the early 2000s.
AWARDS’ SIGNIFICANCE FOR CANADA, WOMEN IN MUSIC
Besides representing an important achievement for the artists themselves, Alper says the awards puts a spotlight on Canada’s music industry, especially with Mitchell’s Lifetime Achievement Award making headlines beyond Canada.
“We’re a massive country with not a lot of people in it, and it’s really hard sometimes to break through to America or the U.K. when you’re from this country, but Joni was able to do it. Nelly was able to do it. And the fact that they were able to do it 30 years apart from one another, just shows that a lot of hard work, doing it for a long time, and a little bit of luck.”
Alper also celebrates that the announcement honours two remarkable female artists, saying that the achievement both honours their hard work and also has the power to inspire other women in the industry.
“I think the music industry can do no wrong putting the spotlight not only on successful women, but also on the up-and-coming women that want to be in the music industry, whether it’s performing or songwriting or producing or engineering,” he said.
“The fact that both Nelly and Joni were producers…They’re both business women, they both control their destiny and their career. And I think it’s really influential that both of those get chosen for this year.”
