BLOG: Polaris Music Prize Shortlist Predictions

The Polaris Music Prize is a special night in Canadian music.

Each fall, it’s a chance for a number of talented Canadian artists to find a place in the spotlight and highlight their artistic abilities to a national audience.

Many Canadians assume the winner of the Polaris Music Prize is defined as the “best album”; instead, it is based on “artistic merit without regard to genre, sales history or professional affiliation”. So a better summary may be “the best piece of art”. That being said, over 200 albums were considered for the Long List, and the jurors have nailed it down to 40, from which 10 while be selected as the Short List. Then, naturally, a winner will receive $50,000 (the nine other nominated acts whose albums make the 2021 Short List will receive $3,000 each).

With the final Short List unveiling this Thursday, June 15th, I have decided to set my predictions ahead of the announcement – along with a TL;DR summary of why they’ve made the list.

As well, if you’d like a closer look into the program, CBC Music will kick off Short List Summer with a retrospective radio special called POLARIS REWIND on Sunday, July 11 at 6 p.m. (6:30 NT). Hosted by A. Harmony, the special unearths stories from the last 15 years of the Polaris Prize as told by artists, jurors, and those behind the scenes.

The 10 album Polaris Short List will be announced live on Thursday, July 15 as part of a two-hour event hosted by A. Harmony starting at 3 p.m. local time (4 p.m. AT, 4:30 NT) and available across Canada on CBC Music and CBC Listen. The special will reveal one Short List nominee every 12 minutes along with music from the nominated albums and insight from Polaris jurors. CBC Music will offer an encore broadcast of the special on Sunday, July 18 at 6 p.m.

Following the Short List reveal, CBC Music will kick into Short List Summer high gear with the POLARIS SPOTLIGHT, an editorial series diving into each of the short-listed artists and their nominated albums, beginning Tuesday, July 20. Short List Summer will also be anchored by a CBC Music one-hour weekly radio special called THE TEN, broadcasting each Sunday evening starting Sunday, July 25. Each week, the show will take an in-depth look at one of the 10 nominated albums in the lead up to the 2021 Polaris Prize winner announcement. Follow CBC Music on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook for more Polaris Music Prize content that will explore the Short List albums and the artists behind them.

A date for the final winner will be picked later this summer.

In no particular order, these are my Top 10 Picks for the Polaris Music Prize:

TEKE::TEKE – Shirushi
Montreal-based seven-piece Japanese psych-rock band who combine worldly influences with surf rock and psychedelic channels for detailed, cerebral rock music.

Zoon – Bleached Wavves
Daniel Monkman’s critically-acclaimed debut album featuring his self-described “moccasin-gaze”.

Bernice – eau de Bonjourno
Toronto-based experimental art-pop group that redefines what it means to make “pop music”

Cadence Weapon – Parallel World
Edmonton-bred, Toronto-based rapper who blended a handful of difficult topics, such as hyper-surveillance and race, into a brilliant performance.

DijahSB – Head Above The Waters
Female Toronto rapper with a smooth flow and a fresh perspective that comes through with clever wordplay and minimalist production.

The Weather Station – Ignorance
Art-rock songwriter Tamara Lindeman explores the human brain and heart with rhythmic, and dense, layered songwriting.

Allison Russell – Outside Child
Montreal-born bilingual artist, poet, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and activist who crafts articulate, striking memoir-like songs based on her traumatic upbringing and redemptive spirit.

Vagina Witchcraft – Vagina Witchcraft
Winnipeg-based doom-metalcore act lead by non-binary poet & activist Kayla Fernandes that unapologetically touches on issues such as mental health, racism, depression, and anger.

The OBGMs – The Ends
Toronto-based Black-fronted punk group revolutionizing the sound and style with a relentless and spirited creativity.

Russell Louder – Humor
Charlottetown/Montreal-based transgender performance artist and songwriter experimenting with styles and genre to form charming indie pop.

Winner: Zoon – Bleached Wavves

July 15th – Official Short List:

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

Full Long-List:

Art Bergmann – Late Stage Empire Dementia
Bernice – Eau De Bonjourno
The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson – Theory of Ice
BIG|BRAVE – Vital
Cadence Weapon – Parallel World
Charlotte Cardin – Phoenix
CFCF – memoryland
Clairmont The Second – IT’S NOT HOW IT SOUNDS
Helena Deland – Someone New
DijahSB – Head Above The Waters
Kathleen Edwards – Total Freedom
Dominique Fils-Aimé – Three Little Words
Fiver with the Atlantic School of Spontaneous Composition – Fiver with the Atlantic School of Spontaneous Composition
Thanya Iyer – KIND
Yves Jarvis – Sundry Rock Song Stock
Rochelle Jordan – Play With the Changes
LAL – Meteors Could Come Down
Daniel Lanois – Heavy Sun
Thierry Larose – Cantalou
Russell Louder – Humor
Elliot Maginot – Easy Morning
Mustafa – When Smoke Rises
Laura Niquay – Waska Matisiwin
Nyssa – Girls Like Me
The OBGMs – The Ends
Dorothea Paas – Anything Can’t Happen
Klô Pelgag – Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs
Savannah Ré – Opia
Allison Russell – Outside Child
Julien Sagot – Sagot
Sargeant X Comrade – Magic Radio
Shabason, Krgovich & Harris – Philadelphia
Yu Su – Yellow River Blue
Julian Taylor – The Ridge
TEKE::TEKE – Shirushi
TOBi – ELEMENTS Vol. 1
Vagina Witchcraft – Vagina Witchcraft
The Weather Station – Ignorance
Zoon – Bleached Wavves