Drake is set to receive a fifth consecutive SOCAN Songwriter of the Year award in the performer category, extending a run that places the spotlight on the writing work behind his recorded output as well as his role performing it. The recognition is part of the SOCAN Awards gala scheduled for October 26 at REBEL in Toronto.
The event will also recognize Jessie Reyez with the International Achievement Award, while Maestro Fresh Wes and producers Anthony Davis and Peter Davis will share the Cultural Impact Award for Let Your Backbone Slide. Jenna Andrews is slated to receive the Songwriter of the Year honor in the separate non-performer category.
More than 100 creators and publishers are expected to be honored when the complete winner list is released on the night of the ceremony. Actor Andrew Phung and television host Arisa Cox will co-host, with Shawn Desman, Jamie Fine and Hailey Benedict listed among the announced performers and guests.
What Drake’s fifth straight performer award recognizes
SOCAN’s performer Songwriter of the Year distinction is specifically framed around songwriting and performance. That distinction matters because a song can involve several creative and business roles: a songwriter creates lyrics, melody, or other compositional elements; a performer records or presents the song; and a publisher administers and helps monetize songwriting rights. One person may hold more than one of those roles, but they are not interchangeable.
In this case, the award is not simply a measurement of celebrity or a trophy for an individual recording. Its stated focus is Drake’s work as both a songwriter and performer. The fifth consecutive honor follows his win in the same category last year, though he did not attend that ceremony.
The current stretch comes after May releases including Iceman, Maid of Honour and Habibti. His recent Canadian chart performance has also included Janice STFU, identified as his longest-running No. 1 single of the 2020s. Those chart results provide useful context for the scale of his ongoing domestic reach, but the SOCAN recognition is rooted in songwriters’ and music-rights work rather than operating as a simple chart award.
That is an important line for fans to keep in mind. A chart measures the performance of a release within its particular chart methodology. A songwriting honor, meanwhile, directs attention back to the people who made the underlying work that can be performed, recorded, licensed and paid out over time.
Why SOCAN’s role is central to the awards
SOCAN is a Canadian music-rights organization that collects music-licence fees and distributes royalties to writers, composers and publishers. It has more than 200,000 music creators and publishers in its membership.
Put simply, a royalty is a payment associated with the use of music. “Licensing” refers to permission for music to be used in a setting covered by a licence. SOCAN’s work connects the usage of musical works with payments due to the people and organizations tied to their creation and publishing.
That framework explains why the gala honors creators and publishers together. A hit record is often discussed through its singer or rapper, but songwriting and rights administration involve a broader ecosystem. The awards’ categories make room for performer-songwriters, songwriters who are not honored as performers, publishers, and creative teams whose older work retains cultural weight.
For the public, these awards can serve as a reminder that the song itself has a life beyond a particular single release or one night’s performance. A composition may be recorded, played publicly or otherwise licensed, and the systems supporting its writers and publishers are part of how the industry accounts for that value.
Jessie Reyez’s international recognition
Jessie Reyez will receive the International Achievement Award. The Toronto-born singer has built a profile beyond Canada through her own releases and collaborations that include work with Beyoncé and Eminem. SOCAN places her worldwide stream total above four billion.
The award reflects international reach, while her recent radio milestone supplies a more specific example of how that reach can show up across markets. Reyez’s Ocean, made with Calvin Harris, reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart in November 2025. Her publisher identified it as her first Billboard No. 1.
Streaming totals, radio charts and awards each describe different parts of an artist’s career. Streams indicate listening activity on digital services; a radio airplay chart concerns broadcast exposure within its defined format; and an achievement award can recognize the broader significance of an artist’s work and presence. Taken together, the details around Reyez point to activity that is not restricted to a single Canadian market.
Reyez is also a multiple Juno winner, adding another Canadian awards context to an honor built around her international footprint. Her inclusion alongside Drake, Andrews and Maestro Fresh Wes gives this year’s set of named recipients a cross-section of contemporary songwriting, global reach and longer-term cultural influence.
Maestro Fresh Wes and a playable tribute to “Let Your Backbone Slide”
The Cultural Impact Award will go to Maestro Fresh Wes alongside Anthony Davis and Peter Davis for Let Your Backbone Slide. Released in 1989, the track became the first Canadian hip-hop single to earn gold status.
That historical detail makes the award’s design especially fitting. This year’s trophies contain five bronze crotales tuned to notes from Let Your Backbone Slide, meaning the award is not only a display object but also a playable percussion instrument.
Crotales are small tuned percussion instruments, commonly metal discs, that produce clear pitched tones. Building five of them into the trophy turns a recognizable award form into a musical object tied directly to the honored composition. Rather than treating the song as a distant historical reference, the design physically incorporates part of its musical identity.
The awards used a similar music-based design approach last year, when the trophy drew on Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now. The continuing idea is straightforward but unusually tangible: the award itself becomes a connection between Canadian songwriting history and the people honored in the room.
For Maestro Fresh Wes, Davis and Davis, the choice also underlines why “cultural impact” is different from a category focused only on current commercial performance. The provided milestone is rooted in the song’s place in Canadian hip-hop history. Its 1989 release date and gold-status breakthrough remain the basis for the award’s commemorative treatment decades later.
What to watch on October 26
The gala’s already announced honors establish several key stories, but the full slate will not be public until the evening of October 26. That makes the event both a celebration of the named headline recipients and a larger recognition night for the many creators and publishers expected to be included.
The ceremony’s format also emphasizes the overlap between public-facing music culture and the creators whose work underpins it. Drake’s continuing performer-category streak is the highest-profile current-run headline. Reyez’s award highlights international scale. Maestro Fresh Wes and his collaborators connect the night to a defining Canadian hip-hop milestone, while Andrews’ non-performer recognition gives direct visibility to songwriting outside the performer category.
Music remains a major thread in wider celebrity culture, even when the news itself is far removed from awards season. For another recent music-adjacent entertainment development, see our coverage of Diddy’s reported return to FCI Fort Dix after hospital treatment.
For this ceremony, the central point is less complicated: the awards are designed to recognize the work of songwriters, composers and publishers, and this year’s recipients span current mainstream success, international reach and a landmark hip-hop record whose notes will literally be built into the trophy.
