Justin Bieber Fever Hits Juno Awards While Michael Buble and Drake Win Big

By Joshua Ostroff Posted Apr 18th 2010 10:45PM

Justin Bieber, Drake Justin Bieber may have come up empty-handed at the 2010 Juno Awards in St John's, Newfoundland, but it wasn't for lack of screaming. International superstars Michael Bublé and Drake may have been the big winners at the annual celebration of the best in Canadian music, but it was the upstart pop star who provided the running theme throughout the awards at Mile One arena.

The Bieber phenomenon ruled everywhere from the red carpet, where girls scrawled "Marry Me Justin Bieber" on their tank-tops and hollered for hours on end, to rapper Classified's show-opening performance, which included changing up his song 'Oh Canada' to rhyme Justin Bieber with the phrase "we love our beaver," to the Barenaked Ladies joking that Album of the Year-winner Michael Bublé could finally "add to his many Junos and Grammys the dubious honour of crushing the hopes and dreams of a child."

Bublé also killed at Saturday night's non-televised gala, taking the podium to accept his Pop Album of the Year award for 'Crazy Love' and cracking, "Seven years ago I came to this event as a pudgy young kid full of dreams and I come here tonight as a middle-aged balding man whose dream is to have hair like the Beibes.

"I love that flop thing he does with his hair -- just do it for me motherf---er."

Bieber got his chance to do it Sunday night, as the camera zoomed on him every time his name was mentioned, which felt like every few minutes. The teen performed his smash 'Baby' early in the show -- before his fans at home had to go to sleep, Sunday being a school night and all -- with his collar popped, his hair expertly mussed, flashbulbs filling the stands and his stage surrounded by screaming tween girls. Even Canadian Hall of Fame inductees April Wine got into the spirit, with Myles Goodwyn cracking backstage: "That blonde kid tonight, I never heard of him. But he is adorable -- I'm a dad, I wanna eat him up."

But as much as Bieber stole the show -- assisted by a surprise guest appearance during 'Baby' from the night's other mega-hyped artist, Drake -- he failed to actually win any awards.

Those trophies instead went to an array of older -- and, let's admit it, more deserving artists -- with Drake taking home a pair himself, including Best Rap Recording for his viral mixtape-gone-blockbuster debut 'So Far Gone' and New Artist of the Year (beating the Biebes, though he shouted-out his pint-size rival: "Justin Bieber, you work really hard and I wanna share this with you.")

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The 2010 Juno Awards

Drake accepts his Juno for New Artist of the Year at the Juno Awards Sunday, April 18, 2010 in St. John's N.L.

CP/Mike Dembeck

Christian Charisius, Reuters

The 2010 Juno Awards

Members of Metric receive the Alternative Album of the Year award for their recording, Fantasies, at the 2010 JUNO gala dinner and awards show in St. John's, N.L. on Saturday, April 17, 2010.

The 2010 Juno Awards

Amelia Curran shows off her Juno award for Solo Roots and Traditional Album of the Year at the Juno Awards Saturday, April 17, 2010 in St. John's N.L.

The 2010 Juno Awards

Michael Buble accepts the Juno for the Pop Album of the Year for his album 'Crazy Love' during the 2010 Juno Gala Dinner and Awards show in St. John's, Newfoundland on Saturday, April 17, 2010.

The 2010 Juno Awards

Bill Talent vocalist Benjamin Kowalewicz addresses the crowd after the band won rock album of the year for their release 'Billy Talent III' at the 2010 JUNO gala dinner and awards show in St. John's, N.L. on Saturday, April 17, 2010.

The 2010 Juno Awards

Michaela Neale, widow of Juno award-winning artist Haydain Neale, of the R&B band Jacksoul and band member Ron Lopata, accept the R&B soul recording of the year award at the 2010 JUNO gala dinner and awards show in St. John's, N.L. on Saturday, April 17, 2010. Neale died from cancer late last year.

The 2010 Juno Awards

Jazz fusion performer Alex Cuba plays at the 2010 JUNO gala dinner and awards show in St. John's, N.L. on Saturday, April 17, 2010.

The 2010 Juno Awards

Max Kerman, lead singer for The Arkells, nominated for new group of the year award, performs at the 2010 JUNO gala dinner and awards show in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, on Saturday, April 17, 2010.

The 2010 Juno Awards

Billy Talent's Ben (left), Jon (second left), a Ian and aaron pose their trophies for Rock Album of the Year at the Juno Awards Saturday, April 17, 2010 in St. John's N.L.

The 2010 Juno Awards

The Arkells, winner of New Group of the Year, celebrate at the Juno Awards Saturday, April 17, 2010 in St. John's N.L.

The 2010 Juno Awards

Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo speaks during the 2010 Juno Gala Dinner and Awards show in St. John's, Newfoundland on Saturday, April 17, 2010.

The 2010 Juno Awards

Michael Bublé, who hits a much different demographic from the buzz boys -- largely the mothers of Drake and Bieber fans -- still managed to land the viewer-voted Pepsi Juno Fan Choice Award ("It tastes great in a glass, but when it's a slurpee it completes me").

He was his usual suave, self-deprecating self as he glad-handed his way through the crowd to collect award after award, including Single of the Year for 'Haven't Met You Yet,' which he performed with his big band. The crooner had to have the band flown in on a charter plane when the omnipresent fog settled over Newfoundland on Friday and forced many artists away, throwing the weekend's JunoFest into disarray.

Before learning he had won the night's final award, for Album of the Year, Bublé came backstage early after being warned by his pilot that the clouds of volcanic ash enveloping a swath of Europe were floating towards Newfoundland (having already kept Bryan Adams, a humanitarian award-winner, grounded in the UK). The pilot insisted on a hasty exit for Bublé and his fiancée, lest they get stuck on the island when she had to get back to Argentina to film her TV show.

But despite the weather issues that plagued the beginning and ending of the 2010 Juno Awards, the night itself went off without a hitch. There wasn't an undeserving name among the winners, which including a Group of the Year win for Metric and Songwriter of the Year for K'Naan -- who closed the show with help from, who else, Drake and Justin Bieber, on his Juno-appropriate anthem 'Wavin Flag.'

Tags: Barenaked Ladies, Drake, juno awards, Justin Bieber, Metric, Michael Bublé