Nominees for the 2020 Canadian Country Music Awards were announced on Wednesday, with a lot of Saskatchewan talent being showcased.
One Saskatchewan artist being recognized is Weyburn’s Tenille Arts.
She is nominated for the Rising Star Award, and her album “Love, Heartbreak, & Everything In Between” is up for Album of the Year.
Arts says she is shocked to hear her album nominated, considering it wasn’t supposed to be an album at all.
“I was actually going to release it as three separate themed EPs with the same title, then it made so much sense to put this together into an album,” said Arts. “I definitely did not expect to wake up today and find out that I was nominated for Album of the Year, so I’m super excited.”
Arts had quite the start to 2020. Her single “Somebody Like That” reached number 10 in Canada and Top 40 in the U.S., she performed on the Today Show, and sang the Canadian national anthem at the 2020 NBA All-Star Game in February.
She says that, despite the pandemic, there have been a lot of great moments in 2020.
“It’s definitely been a weird year, but there has been so many great things to celebrate,” said Arts. “I’m just kind of adding them to a list so that, maybe, I can throw a big party when this year is over and celebrate everything.”
Arts says that she’s happy that all of her hard work is paying off and being nominated for a CCMA just means that much more.
“Winning a CCMA Award has been a dream of mine my entire life,” said Arts. “Growing up in Saskatchewan, I’ve been watching these awards, I know a lot of the artists, and I’ve just been working away every single year up to this point to try and get nominated for this stuff.”
Arts joins a strong contingent of Saskatchewan-born talent to be nominated for the 2020 CCMA’s, including the Hunter Brothers, Jess Moskaluke, and Kalsey Kulyk.
The 2020 CCMA’s will be handed out September 27th.
Related: Jess Moskaluke, Tenille Arts and Hunter Brothers all nominated for CCMA awards
