Victoria’s (or Vancouver’s, depending who you ask) Jade LeMac has been making music for many years, despite being just 22 years old. 

She used to sing outside her mom’s storefront in B.C.’s capital in hopes of attracting an audience. 

“It never worked in my favour, unfortunately,” she told CBC’s Stephen Quinn. 

But things seem to be working out just fine for the young artist now. She has 6.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify, she’s nominated for breakthrough artist of the year at the 2026 Juno Awards, and is preparing to tour the United States this summer with Hilary Duff and La Roux. 

A self-described “West Coast girly,” LeMac’s hometown shows up frequently on her social media and in her music — cozy indie pop that makes you want to roll the windows down and drive along Dallas Road. 

WATCH | Jade LeMac’s Running Home:

She spoke with CBC’s The Early Edition from Hamilton where this year’s Juno Awards ceremony is being held. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

How are you doing ahead of the Junos?

Things are great. We’ve got a lot going on, doing some little performances and things like that, so I’m excited for all of it. 

You got your start performing in front of your mother’s store.

It’s true. Downtown Victoria is where she had her own little store. So right on Johnson Street is where I was singing my heart off. I started off there, and I really thought that I was going to wrangle in an audience, and it never worked.

Maybe I wasn’t loud enough. Maybe I thought I was screaming, but really it was like whispering and maybe no one actually noticed. 

Did you already like performing at the time?

It’s really funny because I think I had way more confidence when I was younger than I do now. I get really bad stage fright. It’s weird, I don’t know. I’ve had it since I was a teenager.

You were writing songs as a young teen. How did you get to where you are now at age 22? 

It’s been a long time, been writing since I was a teenager. It wasn’t until TikTok kind of happened where I started gaining an audience. At the beginning it wasn’t even for music, which is kind of funny. I used TikTok and was able to promote my music and post videos on there. And that’s kind of what took off my career. I had Constellations in, like, a show and in a movie and stuff like that, which really skyrocketed the streams. Yeah, we’ve just been working since. 

Constellations was the first song that caught fire. I sang some covers way back in, like, COVID times and those did really well. And I think that’s what kind of made people realize that I sing at all. And so then I really took that and ran with it, and it worked. 

WATCH | Jade LeMac’s Constellations:

Your producer is based here in Vancouver. How did that relationship come about?

I had the opportunity from an old label way back in the day to record some demos because I had no demos recorded or anything like that. Five days, 10 songs, and I had an engineer helping me because I don’t know how to work anything in the studio. And the engineer ended up being a producer and he ended up hearing Constellations and was like, yeah, I’m going to produce that, let’s work together and we did Constellations, luckily. He really believed in me and we kept working together and now we work on everything together. He really gets me and we have a great relationship. 

How much of the West Coast is in your music?

Naturally, a lot. I’m a West Coast girly, grew up on the West Coast, forever loving the West Coast. So it’s just part of me. Maybe not necessarily lyric-wise, but I am me because of where I’ve grown up and stuff like that. So I guess it’s just integrated in all of it. 

You’re going to the Junos this weekend.

I’m so excited. It’s going to be so amazing. It’s kind of crazy to think that I’m nominated. It’s just like an honour and kind of a full-circle moment. Never thought that I would be here. So even if I don’t win, I’m going to be so happy to just be a part of this experience and have an awesome week. 

After the Junos, what’s next for you?

We are going hard on making new music right now and that’s probably taking up my next few months. And then going and doing a couple festivals. We’re doing Governors Ball in New York and All Things Go in Toronto, which is going to be so fun. And then going on tour with Hilary Duff. 

The 2026 Juno Awards will air live across Canada at 8 p.m. ET on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One, CBC Music, CBC Listen, CBCMusic.ca/junos and stream globally on CBC Music’s YouTube channel.