#NEWMUSIC: AR PAISLEY TO HEADLINE 2024 JIM BEAM INDIES

Canadian Music Week, which has selected the conference’s spotlight country this year as India, is pleased to announce the 23^rd annual Jim Beam® INDIES on June 6, 2024, at Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall, with a headlining set by Canadian-born chart-topper AR Paisley. 

The rising rapper, whose Spotify monthly listeners leapt from 1.1M to 3.2M since December, won Hip-Hop/Rap Artist of the Year at last year’s INDIES.

The awards, sponsored by Jim Beam® and SiriusXM, are a celebration of new music and the artists and teams who inspire the independent spirit, both nationally and internationally. The evening will include award presentations interspersed with live performances by select nominees. 

AR Paisley, who has a top 10 hit in Canada with a feature rap on the posthumous single “Drippy” by his friend and mentor the late Sidhu Moose Wala, will take the stage for a full set to cap the night. The winner of the 2024 Jim Beam® National Talent Search will kick off the INDIES.

Tickets will be on sale at Ticketmaster on Tuesday Feb 27^th 10:00 AM, 2024.

Born into an Indo-Canadian Punjabi Sikh family, in Mississauga, Ontario, Paisley, whose real name is Amarit Rehal, conveys raw vulnerability through his explosive verses. Taking his stage name from the street he was raised on (Paisley Boulevard), he turned to creating music after a turbulent grade 12. In 2018, he started releasing singles including “Beat the Odds” and “Lavish,” then dropped his debut mixtape, Screwface, which gained over five million streams. He followed it up with Timeless, which included “Cost Ya,” which racked over a million streams and put him on the Toronto music map in 2019. That year, he toured with Sidhu Moose Wala.

2020 saw Paisley refine his craft with AR Paisley vs. AR Money and the reflective single “Still Grateful.” Collaborating with another Punjabi superstar, AP Dhillon, on “Takeover” expanded his reach to global audiences. In 2022, Paisley and Moose Wala collaborated on “Love Sick,” to date his most popular song on Spotify. Shortly after, he performed at Rolling Loud and opened for Dhillon’s arena tour before embarking on his own solo tour in 2023. In June, he was named Hip-Hop/Rap Artist of the Year at the Jim Beam® INDIES.

Since then, Paisley has signed 91 North Records, a joint venture between Warner Music Canada and Warner Music India, and dropped the single “What’s Beef” and the Wala track, “Drippy.”

Nominations for the 23^rd Annual Jim Beam® INDIES are being accepted through indies.ca until Feb. 27, 2024. Artists or their representatives can submit their nominations to be considered for the 2024 Jim Beam® INDIE Awards, with national music release dates that must fall between the eligibility period of January 1, 2023, and April 1, 2024. For complete nomination details, eligibility criteria and award categories, see “criteria” on the INDIES’ website. 

ABOUT CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK: 

Canadian Music Week is the leading annual event dedicated to the expression and growth of the country’s music, media and entertainment industries, combining multifaceted, information-intensive conferences, a trade exposition, awards shows and the nation’s largest new music festival.