Backxwash wins the 2020 Polaris Music Prize
It came a month late and had to be done in a virtual setting, but we finally have a winner of the $50,000 Polaris Music Prize. After much deliberation by the Grand Jury, the award went to Backxwash for the album God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It.
If your reaction is “Who?”, then Polaris has once again done its job. The goal is to discover and nominate great Canadian albums, regardless of genre or commercial success. The 200+ music wonks who vote on these albums (I am one) then listen and re-listen to the albums before cutting things down to a Long List of 40. Then comes the Short List of 10. The Grand Jury, selected from those 200+ wonks, then scrap it out until they reach a consensus on the best Canadian record of the last year.
More often than not, the winning album is a brilliant piece of art that might have otherwise gone unnoticed by a large part of the population.
You’re curious about Backxwash now, aren’t you? Good. Take a listen.
Here’s the full short list. The other nine artists get a cheque for $3,000. It’s worth listening to all of these albums.
- Backxwash – God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It
- Caribou – Suddenly
- Junia-T – Studio Monk
- Kaytranada – Bubba
- nêhiyawak – nipiy
- Pantayo – Pantayo
- Lido Pimienta – Miss Colombia
- Jessie Reyez – BEFORE LOVE CAME TO KILL US
- U.S. Girls – Heavy Light
- Witch Prophet – DNA Activation
