TORONTO – Let there be no blurry boundaries heading into next year’s Juno Awards: Robin Thicke‘s smash hit “Blurred Lines” is certainly eligible in the annual gala’s major categories.
Submissions opened this week for the Winnipeg-set 2014 edition of the awards bash and organizers confirmed to The Canadian Press that Thicke’s summer-ruling hit would indeed be a viable candidate.
Organizers said Thicke’s hip-swivelling song and the album of the same name both qualify for Junos, though he would receive any such honour for the tune alone — American collaborators Pharrell Williams and T.I. would receive credit only as featured non-Canadian artists, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences said.
Thicke holds dual citizenship by virtue of his Canadian father, actor Alan Thicke, but the 36-year-old was born and raised around Los Angeles.
Get daily National news
READ MORE: Robin Thicke talks about Canadian ties
His hit “Blurred Lines,” which generated some controversy over its allegedly sexist lyrics and risque music video, topped charts around the world and has been certified six times platinum in Canada.
Thicke was actually previously nominated for a Juno Award for R&B/soul recording of the year for his lower-profile 2011 recording “Pretty Lil’ Heart” — a fact that tickled Thicke at the time.
“I was very honoured — it’s nice to be nominated in dad’s home (country),” he said then. “The nomination is just, it’s very sweet. Very kind. When you make your music, you want as many people to hear it and love it as possible. It’s nice when your peers — or a meeting of the minds — thinks you’ve made something of quality.”
His competitors at the time might have raised eyebrows at the nomination, at least initially.
“I was like, ‘I didn’t realize Americans are getting nominated at the Junos,'” said Toronto singer Melanie Fiona then, before she went on to actually win in the category for “Gone and Never Coming Back.”
“But afterward, I was like, ‘Oh right, he is, he’s Canadian.’ We actually crack about that all the time, whenever I see him.”
The submission period for next year’s Juno Awards runs through Nov. 13.
Comments