Albums From The Weeknd, Jessie Reyez On 2020 Polaris Prize Long List
The annual prize, which was announced today by past years’ nominees, celebrates excellence in Canadian music.
The Long List of nominees for the Polaris Music Prize, which celebrates excellence in Canadian Music, has been revealed. The Weeknd’s After Hours and Jessie Reyez’s BEFORE LOVE CAME TO KILL US are both among the selections for 2020.
Titles for this years’ Long List, which were released between 1 June 2019 and 31 May 2020, also include selections from singer-songwriter Andy Shauf and Grammy Award-winning R&B artist Daniel Caesar, as well as from recent winners KAYTRANADA and Caribou. Nominees were chosen from a pool of 223 albums by a jury of over 200 journalists, broadcasters, bloggers and programmers from across Canada.
In light of COVID-19, the Long List was revealed by past nominees, who joined remotely from their homes. 2020 nominee Anachnid also performed two songs from their Dreamweaver album as part of the broadcast.
A 10-title Short List will be announced 15 July via CBC Radio, while the sole winner of the Canadian Album Of The Year, who receives a grand prize of CAD 50,000, will be revealed this autumn. The nine other nominated acts whose albums make the 2020 Short List will each receive CAD 3,000.
Past winners include the likes of Buffy Sainte-Marie (2015), Feist (2012), Arcade Fire, F__ed Up (2011) and Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2013)
In related news, The Weeknd recently announced his rescheduled North American and European tour dates. His highly anticipated ‘The After Hours’ world tour was originally scheduled to kick off on 11 June in Vancouver, BC and take him around the globe with 57 stops in the US, Canada, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and France with support from Sabrina Claudio, Don Toliver and 88GLAM.
New dates are scheduled for the summer and autumn of 2021. The shows begin in Vancouver on 12 June and end in Berlin on 11 November.
Released in late March, After Hours marked The Weeknd’s fourth studio album. In addition to debuting atop the Billboard 200, After Hours received wide critical acclaim, and is already on several “Best Of” lists for 2020, including those by Billboard, Variety and Vulture.
Listen to the best of The Weeknd on Apple Music and Spotify.
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