2020 Polaris Music Prize Long List announced

Social distancing will not stop the Polaris Music Prize from celebrating the best in Canadian music.

During a live event streamed over YouTube and Facebook, the Polaris Music Prize presented it’s 2020 Long List yesterday. This year’s Long List, presented by the Canadian Council for the Arts, celebrates the true diversity to be found in Canadian music and includes a wide array of music genres, languages, and both new and established artists.

With social distancing still in place, past Polaris nominees, including Tim Baker, Cadence Weapon, Shad, Snotty Nose Rez Kids’ Derren Mentz, Hannah Georgas and 2019 Polaris Music Prize winner, Haviah Mighty, were enlisted to help present the 40 nominees; while 2020 Long List nominee, Anachnid, performed songs from her nominated album, Dreamweaver.

Looking forward, the 40 album Long List will be pared down to 10 when the Short List is revealed live on July 15 on a CBC Music radio special. The 2020 Polaris Music Prize will then be presented during a special cinematic event on the CBC Gem streaming service and CBCMusic.ca/Polaris this fall. More details on this will be announced in the coming weeks.

Every year, the Polaris Music Prize awards $50,000 to the artist who creates the Canadian Album of the Year, as voted on by music journalists, who judge their selection solely on artistic merit and without consideration for genre or record sales. In addition, the nine other Short Listed nominated acts will receive $3,000 each courtesy of Slaight Music.

Past winners of the Polaris Music Prize include Jeremy Dutcher, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Feist, Arcade Fire and Fucked Up.

For more information about the Polaris Music Prize, please be sure to visit  https://polarismusicprize.ca/.

Your 2020 Polaris Music Prize Long List nominees are:

Allie X Cape God

Anachnid Dreamweaver

Aquakultre Legacy

Marie-Pierre Arthur Des feux pour voir

Backxwash God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It

Badge Époque Ensemble Badge Époque Ensemble

Begonia Fear

P’tit Belliveau Greatest Hits Vol. 1

Caribou Suddenly

Daniel Caesar CASE STUDY 01

Chocolat Jazz engagé

Louis-Jean Cormier Quand la nuit tombe

Corridor Junior

dvsn A Muse In Her Feelings

Jacques Greene Dawn Chorus

Sarah Harmer Are You Gone

Ice Cream FED UP

Junia-T Studio Monk

Kaytranada Bubba

Flore Laurentienne Volume 1

Cindy Lee What’s Tonight To Eternity?

Men I Trust Oncle Jazz

nêhiyawak nipiy

OBUXUM Re-Birth

Owen Pallett Island

Pantayo Pantayo

Lido Pimienta Miss Colombia

Joel Plaskett 44

William Prince Reliever

Jessie Reyez BEFORE LOVE CAME TO KILL US

Riit ataataga

Andy Shauf The Neon Skyline

Super Duty Tough Work Studies in Grey

U.S. Girls Heavy Light

Leif Vollebekk New Ways

Wares Survival

The Weeknd After Hours

WHOOP-Szo Warrior Down

Witch Prophet DNA Activation

Zen Bamboo GLU