Vancouver-based Superstar Karan Aujla becomes the first Punjabi artist ever to win this prestigious music award
In an unprecedented moment in the Canadian music industry, Karan Aujla made history with a by becoming the first Punjabi artist to win a Juno Award!
Punjabi-Canadian global star Aujla won the TikTok Fan Choice award, the only fan-chosen award of the ceremony.
According to Juno Award biographies, “Aujla was born and raised in the village of Ghurala in Northern Punjab amidst the rural and farm lifestyle. At a young age, both of Aujla’s parents passed away. Plagued with anxiety, depression, and reclusiveness – creating rhymes and writing was a pacifier and escape for Karan. After his parents passing, Aujla relocated to British Columbia, Canada – joining his sisters who were already living there prior.”
“Sometimes I can’t believe I’m that same kid who lost my parents when I was in India, made my way to Canada, and now I’m here!” said the Vancouver-based artist.
Aujla who is also known as Geetan Di Machine started his award-winning speech by saying this is certainly the first one but not the last one. He thanked his team, parents, God, and his family for their support. “If you are dreaming, make sure you dream big,” he said.
The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) and CBC celebrated Canada’s Biggest Night in Music this evening at The 53rd Annual JUNO Awards Broadcast. Hosted by legendary singer, songwriter and pop superstar Nelly Furtado, the awards were broadcast from Scotiabank Centre in Halifax on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One, CBC Music, CBC Listen, and globally at CBCMusic.ca/junos and CBC Music’s YouTube page.
A number of the night’s performances motioned toward the increasingly diverse and global future of Canadian music. Dressed in a spiffy white outfit with a four backup dancers in red, Aujla performed early on, playing pop hits “Admirin’ You” and “Softly.” Both came from his album Making Memories, which made history as the highest-charting Punjabi debut ever on the Canadian Albums chart. Ikky, who made the album with Aujla, acted as hype man on an elevated platform.
During his high school years, he was sought out by many Punjabi artists as a songwriter and would go on to pen several singles for the most prominent Punjabi artists at the time. With fate at work again, one of his songs as a full-fledged artist rather than writer garnered international buzz in the Punjabi community worldwide, propelling him to be a global ambassador for Punjabi music.
Aujla’s debut album, BacTHAfuKUP (B.T.F.U.), released in 2021, highlights his vocal prowess in unison with trance-like Punjabi folk production. This album solidified his place as a global ambassador of Punjabi music worldwide, with a hundred million streams across streaming platforms, and #6 placement on Spotify’s Global Chart. That same year, Karan was dubbed India’s most prominent artist as he was ranked #38 on the Global Digital Artist Ranking. Karan is approaching 3 billion views on YouTube, has garnered over one billion audio streams, 7.5 million Spotify monthly listeners and 8 million followers across his social media channels.”
Fans celebrated Aujla’s groundbreaking win on social media, acknowledging how he is bringing Punjabi music to the international stage.
“Great job Karan. Another homegrown Punjabi superstar from #BC connecting people through music, just the beginning and more to come!” wrote Federal Minister Harjit Sajjan.
Aujla was nominated for TikTok JUNO Fan Choice and Breakthrough Artist of the Year award. Shubh, another Punjabi-Canadian artist, was nominated for the TikTok Fan Choice, a fan-voted award, along with Aujla
