2019 Polaris Music Prize Long List Announced
The 40 albums competing for the prestigious and lucrative Prize were named at an event in Winnipeg. In total, 233 albums were considered by the 199 member jury for Long List selection.
By FYI Staff
The Polaris Music Prize, presented by CBC Music, has unveiled the 40 albums on the 2019 Long List. This year’s Long List is presented by Canada Council for the Arts.
The announcements came at a Polaris event at The Forks in Winnipeg yesterday (June 20), hosted by Prize founder and executive director Steve Jordan.
Reading out the nominee names were Stephen Carroll (The Weakerthans), former Polaris winner Buffy Sainte-Marie, broadcaster turned provincial NDP leader Wab Kinew, and Polaris juror Ashley Bieniarz.
This was followed by a surprise set from one of the longlisted acts, Indigenous hip-hop duo Snotty Rez Kids.
In total, 233 albums were considered by the 199 member jury for Long List selection. Further details including bios and streams can be found on the Polaris Music Prize website.
The 2019 Polaris Music Prize Long List as follows:
Tim Baker - Forever Overhead
Tanika Charles - The Gumption
Clairmont The Second - Do You Drive?
Charlotte Cornfield - The Shape of Your Name
Marie Davidson - Working Class Woman
Dilly Dally - Heaven
The Dirty Nil - Master Volume
Dizzy - Baby Teeth
Elisapie - The Ballad of the Runaway Girl
FET.NAT - Le Mal
Dominique Fils-Aimé - Stay Tuned!
Fucked Up - Dose Your Dreams
Yves Jarvis - The Same But By Different Means
Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated
Kaia Kater - Grenades
Kimmortal - X Marks the Swirl
La Force - La Force
LAL - Dark Beings
Laurence-Anne - Première apparition
Salomé Leclerc - Les choses extérieures
Lee Harvey Osmond - Mohawk
Jean Leloup - L'étrange pays
Shay Lia - Dangerous
Les Louanges - La nuit est une panthère
Loud - Tout ça pour ça
Shawn Mendes - Shawn Mendes
Haviah Mighty - 13th Floor
Operators - Radiant Dawn
Orville Peck - Pony
Sandro Perri - In Another Life
PUP - Morbid Stuff
Lee Reed - The Steal City EP
Jessie Reyez - Being Human In Public
Shad - A Short Story About a War
Snotty Nose Rez Kids - Trapline
Alexandra Stréliski - Inscape
sydanie - 999
TOBi - STILL
Voivod - The Wake
Wintersleep - In The Land Of
“Canada Council is thrilled to support the musical talent recognized by the Polaris Prize and the success of new generations of Canadian artists here and abroad," said Carolyn Warren, Director General, Arts Granting Programs Division / Directrice générale, Division des programmes de subventions aux arts
The 10 album Short List will be announced on July 16. The 2019 Polaris Music Prize winner will be revealed at the Polaris Gala on Monday, September 16 at the Carlu in Toronto, and will be live streamed globally at cbcmusic.ca/polaris.
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 2019 Short List will receive $3,000 each courtesy of Slaight Music.
Albums eligible for 2019 Polaris Music Prize consideration must be released between May 1, 2018, and May 31, 2019. An independent jury of music journalists, broadcasters and bloggers from across Canada determine the Long List and Short List. Eleven people from the larger jury pool are then chosen to serve on the Grand Jury. This Grand Jury convenes on the night of the Gala to select the Polaris Music Prize winner.
Past winners of the Prize are Jeremy Dutcher (2018), Lido Pimienta (2017), Kaytranada (2016), Buffy Sainte-Marie (2015), Tanya Tagaq (2014), Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2013), Feist (2012), Arcade Fire (2011), Karkwa (2010), Fucked Up (2009), Caribou (2008), Patrick Watson (2007) and Final Fantasy / Owen Pallett (2006).