Last week, the 2016 Polaris Music Prize shortlist was announced. The top 10 artists vying for the title of the best Canadian album of the year are Andy Shauf, Basia Bulat, Black Mountain, Carly Rae Jepsen, Grimes, Jessy Lanza, Kaytranada, Pup, U.S. Girls and White Lung.
This year marks the highest number of female/female-fronted acts ever to have made the short list, with seven. For the only the second time in Polaris history the short list does not include any R&B or rap artists however, Kaytranada’s 99.9% features both rap and R&B artists. While this year’s long list boasted some of the country’s biggest names in the genre, including Drake, and the Weeknd, among others, none of them made it to the top 10.
There are six artists on the 2016 short list that are newcomers; Andy Shauf, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kaytranada, Pup, U.S. Girls, White Lung. The remaining four are returning short list nominees; Basia Bulat, Black Mountain, Grimes and Jessy Lanza.
The Polaris Music Prize gala takes place September 19th in Toronto to be hosted by CBC Radio 2 Morning’s Tom Power, and Amanda Parris, of CBC Radio 2’s Marvin’s Room and Exhibitionists on CBC TV. The event will be live streamed on CBCMusic.ca/polarisprize.
The list was adjudicated by 194 journalists, broadcasters and music bloggers across Canada. A smaller group of 11 grand jurors will now be selected to convene on the night of the Polaris gala to vote for the winner. The Polaris Music Prize winner takes home a $50,000 grand prize and the other nine nominees will each receive $3,000.
Visit the polarisprize.ca for more information on the short listed artists and the Music Prize Gala. While you’re there check out the great new posters created for each of the nominees, like those above by Ally Jaye Reeves for Carly Ray Jepsen and Jonathan Dyck for Andy Shauf.