The Weeknd, Alessia Cara among Canadian winners at the Grammys

Alessia Cara’s dreams of winning a Grammy Award are no longer confined to her bathroom shower.

The Brampton raised singer accepted the award for best new artist – the first Grammy of her career – at Sunday night’s televised ceremony.

Cara told the audience she’s been “pretend winning” Grammys in the shower since she was a kid.

She then encouraged people to “support real music and real artists,” saying that “everyone deserves the same shot.”

While other Canadians like Drake, Alanis Morissette and Justin Bieber have been contenders for best new artist, none of them emerged victorious.

It’s been a stellar rise for Cara, who swept through the Juno Awards nearly two years ago, winning breakthrough artist.

Since then she’s appeared on a number of big hits, including Logic’s suicide prevention anthem “1-800-273-8255,” which is nominated at the Grammys for song of the year.

Prior to the telecast, The Weeknd’s “Starboy” picked up a Grammy for best urban contemporary album.

It’s the third career Grammy for the global superstar from Toronto.

He’s among a group of Canadians who scored golden gramophones in a pre-telecast ceremony where most of the awards are handed out.

Leonard Cohen’s song “You Want It Darker” won a Grammy for best rock performance. The track appears on the Montreal singer-songwriter’s final album of the same name.

Nova Scotia soprano Barbara Hannigan’s “Crazy Girl Crazy” picked up a Grammy in the best classical solo vocal album category. It’s the first Grammy win for the contemporary opera singer.

Charles Moniz of Burlington, Ont. shared a Grammy win earlier in the ceremony for “24K Magic” by Bruno Mars, which scored best engineered album, non-classical.

Kesha wows at Grammys

Kesha gave a passionate performance at the Grammy Awards with the help of powerful women behind her, including the Resistance Revival Chorus.

She was joined by Cyndi Lauper, Camila Cabello, Julia Michaels, Andra Day and Bebe Rexha for her Grammy-nominated song, “Praying,” on Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Dressed in white, they won over the audience and hugged at the song’s end as some audience members cried, including Hailee Steinfeld.

Kesha, who earned her first pair of Grammy nominations this year, has been in a legal war with former producer and mentor Dr. Luke. Janelle Monae introduced the performance with strong words.

“We come in peace but we mean business. To those who would dare try to silence us, we offer two words: Time’s Up,” Monae said. “It’s not just going on in Hollywood. It’s not just going on in Washington. It’s here in our industry, too.”

Before the performance, Maren Morris, Eric Church and Brothers Osborne performed an emotional rendition of Eric Clapton’s “Tears In Heaven” – written after his son died – in honour of the 58 people who died at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas last year. The names of the victims were displayed behind them as they performed.

The performances were two of the show’s serious moments. Dozens of artists and music industry players also sported white roses in support of the Time’s Up and #MeToo movements against sexual abuse and harassment.