Toronto soul and R&B singer Charlotte Day Wilson, Vancouver indie band Destroyer and rap duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids, from B.C.’s Kitamaat Village in Haisla Nation, are among the 10 artists nominated for the 2022 Polaris Music Prize Short List.
The $50,000 Polaris Prize recognizes the best Canadian album of the year, judged solely on artistic merit, without consideration for genre or record sales. The winner will be crowned at the Polaris Gala on Sept. 19 at The Carlu in Toronto. It will mark the first in-person ceremony since 2019.
Last year, Edmonton-born, Toronto-based rapper Cadence Weapon won the prestigious prize for his album “Parallel World.” Groundbreaking hip hop artist Backxwash won the prize in 2020 for her rap-metal opus “Lie Here Buried with My Rings and My Dresses.”
Here are the 10 shortlist nominees for the 2022 Polaris Prize.
- Destroyer: “LABYRINTHITIS”
- Pierre Kwenders: “José Louis And The Paradox Of Love”
- Lisa Leblanc: “Chiac Disco”
- Hubert Lenoir: “PICTURA DE IPSE : Musique directe”
- Kelly McMichael: “Waves”
- Ombiigizi: “Sewn Back Together”
- Ouri: “Frame of a Fauna”
- Snotty Nose Rez Kids: “Life After”
- Charlotte Day Wilson: “ALPHA”
“This year’s 2022 Short List captures the ambition, creativity, and boundless potential of Canadian music from coast to coast,” said Polaris jury foreperson Melissa Vincent in a media release.
Take-aways and stray observations:
A diverse, representative mix of music
The 2022 shortlist includes three French-language albums: Acadian “trash-folk” artist Lisa Leblanc, Montreal orchestral/electronic artist Ouri, and the previously shortlisted experimental artist Hubert Lenoir. (Congolese-Canadian singer/rapper sings and raps in various languages, including English, French, Lingala and Tshiluba).
The shortlist also is representative of Indigenous artists: OMBIIGIZI is a musical duo made up of Anishanabee artists Adam Sturgeon of Status/Non-Status and Daniel Monkman of Zoon, and Snotty Nose Rez Kids are a hip hop duo hailing from Northwest B.C.’s Kitamaat Village in Haisla Nation.
Major commercial artists snubbed
The Polaris has a long reputation of recognizing independent, underground artists. Thus, it comes as no surprise that a number of the commercially successful mainstream artists that made the longlist — including Arcade Fire, The Weeknd, Orville Peck and PUP — didn’t make the cut.
No repeats
Four previous Polaris Prize winners made the 2022 longlist — Backxwash (2020), Haviah Mighty (2019), Tanya Tagaq (2014), Arcade Fire (2011) — but will not be repeating in 2022.
Fifth time’s a charm for Shad?
The 39-year-old rapper and former “Q” broadcaster has previously made the Polaris shortlist four times. That likely makes his 2021 album, “TAO”, among the front-runners for this year prize.
A Toronto-centric masterpiece
Charlotte Day Wilson’s excellent debut album “Alpha” features contributions from a number of Toronto-based artists, including BadBadNotGood, Daniel Caesar, Mustafa and singer Merna Bishouty. The collaborative nature of this record, which Wilson wrote, produced and released by herself, surely makes it a front-runner.
Time to give Dan Bejar his flowers?
Dan Bejar, the frontman and mastermind behind the veteran group Destroyer and a sometimes-member of The New Pornographers, has left a major mark on the Canadian indie scene over the past quarter century. Destroyer’s 13th studio album, “Labyrinthitis,” is one of the most fascinating and challenging records of the band’s career, and their fourth album to make the Polaris Short List.
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