So What Does All These Canadian Pop Successes in 2015 Really Mean?
Drake. Bieber. The Weeknd. Between those three guys (and Shawn Mendes, Alessia Cara and a few others), Canadians dominated the Amerian pop charts in 2015, something US music writers certainly noticed. Check out this podcast from Salon.
Nice. Nothing like a little validation from our southern neighbours to make Canadians feel better about themselves. But in true Canuck fashion, we look at these successes in a glass-half-full fashion. This is from Macleans (via FYI Music News):
This takeover has been heralded as a triumph for Canadian pop. But just how Canadian are its roots? All five artists are signed directly to various of Universal Music’s U.S. divisions, and only distributed via Universal Canada (The Weeknd is signed to both.) Where The Weeknd and Drake developed their early mixtapes in Toronto (even then, dual citizen Drake was working back and forth across the border), Bieber was discovered on YouTube by Atlanta manager Scooter Braun, who moved him to the States. Similarly, Cara and Mendes were discovered singing covers on YouTube and Vine, respectively—Cara by a New York manager and Mendes by an L.A. production company—and both were matched up with U.S. co-writers. Although Drake now signs local artists to his label, OVO Sound, the label is described as a “partnership” with Warner U.S.
Read the whole article here.
