By Will McGuirk
Makers still making, and art still been made, and being noticed, and awarded, and tonight the 2021 winner of the Polaris MusicPrize will be announced. The celebration of all things artistic in Canadian music will be live-streamed on CBC.ca Gem and social media channels at 8 p.m. ET, and hosted by the Mother Corp’s Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe. Last year’s winner Bacxwash will perform and will make the winner announcement.
The albums on the 2021 Polaris Music Prize Short List are:
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson - Theory of Ice
Cadence Weapon - Parallel World
DijahSB - Head Above The Waters
Dominique Fils-Aimé - Three Little Words
Mustafa - When Smoke Rises
The OBGMs - The Ends
Klô Pelgag - Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs
TOBi - Elements Vol. 1
The Weather Station - Ignorance
Zoon - Bleached Wavves
The Polaris Music Prize awards $50,000 to the artist who creates the Canadian Album of the Year, judged solely on artistic merit, without consideration for genre or record sales. Additionally, the nine other nominated acts whose albums make the 2021 Short List will receive $3,000 each courtesy of Slaight Music. New for 2021, Polaris Music Prize has partnered with Play MPE to award the winning artist with a global music promotion distribution package for one release (single or album) worth up to $3,025 CAD. Play MPE will also gift all nine remaining Short List artists with distribution packages worth up to $1,000 CAD each.
The past winners are Backxwash (2020), Haviah Mighty (2019), Jeremy Dutcher (2018), Lido Pimienta (2017), Kaytranada (2016), Buffy Sainte-Marie (2015), Tanya Tagaq (2014), Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2013), Feist (2012), Arcade Fire (2011), Karkwa (2010), Fucked Up (2009), Caribou (2008), Patrick Watson (2007) and Final Fantasy / Owen Pallett (2006).
The Polaris Music Prize is a not-for-profit organization that annually honours and rewards artists who produce Canadian music albums of distinction. A select panel of music critics judge and award the Prize without regard to musical genre or commercial popularity. polarismusicprize.ca
