Radio in YYZ:

Sam Roberts, Celine Dione, Nickleback, Avril Levine. Sounds disturbed.

"I think this is a jam", "...this is an amazing song." -Lizzo, on Nickelback's How You Remind Me

Though I can't remember the last time I heard Gordon Lightfoot on US radio. Which is a shame - he is an astonishing songwriter.

I make no apologies for being a fan of The Weeknd. And Carly Rae Jepsen.

And I make no apologies for having never heard of either of them! Just not interested in music that's made from the ground up just to stick in people heads for a few days, personally. The art is gone, they follow a pretty basic formula. And they usually don't even write their own music except for the lyrics. And if you're lucky you might even get to hear their actual voice!

Might as well just listen to generative music at that point. At least that will have interesting moments in it when it enters the uncanny valley.

Well they are from Canada, and may not be to your taste, but I imagine you haven't seen them perform live - they're actually really good. ;-)

Regarding autotune, it's worth noting that one of the most famous users of autotune as a musical effect, T-Pain (who isn't Canadian) is actually an excellent singer (and for something unexpected, check out his cover of Black Sabbath's War Pigs.)

Of course The Weeknd is in fact a successful songwriter, but I don't entirely understand the criticism of singers for not writing their own music. Certainly we accept that it's OK in jazz, in musicals, in movies, and at the opera - why not popular music?