The Polaris Music Prize, which is awarded to the best Canadian album based on artistic merit, is hosting its virtual award celebration on October 19, 2020 – here’s our guide for how to watch!
This Indie88 feature is presented with Polaris Music Prize.
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 2020 Short List will receive $3,000 each courtesy of Slaight Music.
This year, because of COVID-19, the Polaris Music Prize is going virtual. The special cinematic event, which takes place on October 19th, is set to honour the ten albums on the Polaris Short List live on CBC Gem and CBC Music. A handful of Canadian filmmakers have been selected to create short films for the event, and each film will honour one of the 10 albums nominated for the 2020 Polaris Short List.
The ten short films are set to be streamed as part of a reimagined 2020 Polaris Music Prize Celebration. Hosted by CBC Music’s Saroja Coelho, the special will be broadcast on the free CBC Gem streaming service; CBC Music’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages; and at CBCMusic.ca/Polaris on October 19th at 8:00 p.m. EST. At the end of the event, the 2020 Polaris-winning album will be announced.
The long list, which was made up of 40 albums, was recently narrowed down to just ten albums including Lido Pimienta’s Miss Colombia, Kaytranada’s Bubba, U.S. Girls’ Heavy Light, Jessie Reyez’s Before Love Came To Kill Us, and more. Of those ten albums, one will be chosen as the 2020 Polaris Music Prize winner.
Check out the short list nominees below.
2020 Polaris Music Prize Short List:
Backxwash – God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out Of It
Caribou – Suddenly
Jessie Reyez – Before Love Came To Kill Us
Junia-T – Studio Monk
Kaytranada – Bubba
Lido Pimienta – Miss Colombia
nêhiyawak – nipiy
Pantayo – Pantayo
U.S. Girls – Heavy Light
Witch Profit – DNA Activation