2025 Polaris long list breakdown

Moneyballing, genre, geography & gender

It’s that time of year! The Polaris Music Prize long list is here.

It was announced today at 6 p.m. The jury of more than 200 musicfolk from across Canada voted on 185 albums suggested by their peers. There is no qualification criteria other than Canadian citizenship / landed immigrant status, and the album must have been released between April 1, 2024 and May 1, 2025.

Jurors now vote on these 40 albums to compile a shortlist, announced July 10. Winner will be announced at the gala September 16.

Here’s my annual look at how the long list breaks down, demographically and otherwise. Last year’s was here. I’ve been doing some version of this for the past 19 years.

Mistakes are inevitable, corrections are welcome:

Familiar faces

Previous winners: 2

Caribou (2008), Backxwash (2020)

Former shortlisters: 11

Basia Bulat (3x + 1 LL), the Sadies (2x + 3 LL), Weather Station (+ 2 LL), SNRK (4x), Klo Pelgag (+ 1 LL), OBGMs, Mustafa, Kelly McMichael, Destroyer (2x), Marie Davidson (+ 1 LL), Cold Specks (+ 1LL), Hildegard (duo feat. 1x SL Ouri + longlister Helena Deland)

Former longlisters: 12

Bibi Club, Antoine Corriveau, Yves Jarvis (3x, once as Un Blonde), Kaia Kater, Men I Trust (2x), N NAO, Eliza Niemi, Dorothea Pass, Population II, Sister Ray, Donovan Woods (2x), Yoo Doo Right

New faces: 15

Last year: 3 previous winners, 4 previous shortlisters, 17 previous longlisters, 14 new faces.

Geography:

This is always tricky, whether to count, say, Yves Jarvis as a Montrealer (where he’s lived for years) or a Calgarian (where he grew up and began his career). Even with that fudging in mind, Montreal has more this year than I ever recall in Polaris history:

Montreal: 18 (including Calgarian Yves Jarvis and Torontonian Basia Bulat)

Toronto/GTA: 12 (though Mustafa has fled the city for L.A.)

B.C.: 3 (Art d’Ecco, Destroyer, Snotty Nose Rez Kids)

Quebec City: 2 (Lou-Adriane Cassidy, Ariane Roy)

Prairies: 1 (Albertan Wyatt C. Louis, although both Yves Jarvis and Sister Ray are also Albertan)

Atlantic (UPDATED): 2 (Kelly McMichael and Kaia Kater, both of Newfoundland; McMichael grew up in Ontario; Kater in Montreal. FWIW Torontonian Eliza Niemi used to play in Haligonian band Mauno, and Rick White of landmark NB band Eric’s Trip has lived in Toronto for almost 30 years now.)

Ontario outside Toronto/GTA: 1 (Richard Laviolette of Guelph)

International: 1 (Caribou, from Ontario, who has resided in London for about 20 years)

Last year had 15 Montreal, 10 Toronto, 2 Calgary, 2 Vancouver, 2 Winnipeg, 3 New Brunswick (!), 2 Ontario, 4 international nomads

Gender

22/40 acts are female solo acts or female-fronted (e.g. Men I Trust) or one-half of duo (Bibi Club) or trans/non-binary (Backxwash, Bells Larsen), to the best of my knowledge.

Last year it was 23, which was a big leap from 2023, with 18.

New Canada:

To the best of my extremely limited knowledge, large amounts of visual supposition and no DNA tests, there are 13 non-“white” nominees (or bands with prominent members as such), four of which are Indigenous (Ribbon Skirt, Sister Ray, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Wyatt C. Louis).

Last year there were 14.

Genre

Genre is over! But here goes:

Folk-ish/singer/songwriter: 8 Myriam Gendron, Kaia Kater, Bells Larsen, Wyatt C. Louis, Mustafa, Dorothea Pass, Sister Ray, Donovan Woods. This is a trend I didn’t expect, but maybe tense times call for tender sounds?

Pop-ish: 7 Basia Bulat, Lou-Adriane Cassidy, Cold Specks, Saya Gray, Kelly McMichael, Nemahsis, Ariane Roy. Gendered judgment, I know.

“Rock,” a.k.a. music centred around electric guitar: 7 Art d’Ecco, Bibi Club, Choses Sauvages, Yves Jarvis, Richard Laviolette, Population II, Rick White & Sadies

Art-pop: 4 Antoine Corriveau, Destroyer, Klô Pelgag, Weather Station

Aggressive/heavy 4: Backxwash, Yoo Doo Right, Gloin, OBGMs

ASMR: 4 Hildegard, N NAO, Men I Trust, Eliza Niemi. Sign of the times, and sounds that are way too tender for me. Many in the folk-ish category also belong here, i.e. Donovan Woods, Mustafa and Dorothea Pass.

R&B/Hip hop: 3 Quinton Barnes, Mike Shabb, Snotty Nose Rez Kids. This is the shocker for me: in 2025, there are only two rap acts on the list, and only one that’s R&B adjacent.

Electro: 2 Caribou, Marie Davidson

Linguistics:

Francophones: 8.5, because Myriam Gendron sings in French less than half the time.

Last year: 5 francophones, 2 Indigenous languages, 1 Spanish

Popularity Contest:

Rough year for well-known names. I can’t claim to be remotely tapped into popular culture—especially Quebec’s—but I don’t think anyone here gets played on mainstream radio. That doesn’t mean they’re unpopular; many acts here are live draws across Canada, though not many can fill rooms bigger than 500 capacity.

That said: Men I Trust have huge streaming numbers: nine million on Spotify (where I’d argue they’re part of the somnambulant passive-listening trend), and this summer they sold 7,500 tickets over three nights at History in Toronto.

Nemahsis and Mustafa get fawning international press and Juno love (as they should). Marie Davidson is highly respected in Berghain circles. Destroyer and Caribou have more-than-respectable 25-year careers (which you can read about in Hearts on Fire! plug plug) and I can guarantee they’ll be part of any American headlines about Polaris.

Age: Look who’s 40+!

From what I can tell, eight artists are over 40.

Rick White, who returned to the stage this year for a one-off gig to promote his collaboration with fellow geezers the Sadies, is 54 (a.k.a. my age). Dan Snaith of Caribou is 47. Donovan Woods is 45. UPDATED: Dan Bejar of Destroyer is 52 (no idea how I forgot that, seeing how he’s a subject in my latest book).

I’m willing to bet that Bibi Club, Basia Bulat, Antoine Corriveau, Cold Specks and the Weather Station recently passed the 40 mark. (UPDATED: Cold Specks is 37. Still, a remarkable and welcome comeback.)

Who’s the youngest? Good question. Bells Larsen is 25. Mike Shabb, Lou-Adriane Cassidy and Ariane Roy are all 27. Everyone else is, I believe, at least late 20s. Saya Gray is 30.

This year has one posthumous record: Richard Laviolette’s All Wild Things Are Shy, completed before the 41-year-old singer-songwriter chose a medically assisted death after his Huntington’s disease acclerated. I wrote about the album here. Matt Horseman wrote this in the Globe and Mail. The only other posthumous records to ever make the long list are Gord Downie’s Introduce Yerself (2018) and Leonard Cohen’s You Want It Darker (2017); the latter also shortlisted.

Last year Beverly Glenn-Copeland was 80 years old, and one of seven artists over 40; the Beaches might have been the youngest, even though they were 10-year veterans at the age of 27.

Polaris Hall of Fame:

This extremely unofficial ongoing exercise of mine awards 3 points for a win, 2 points for a shortlist, and 1 point for long list.

Caribou now ties Shad for all-time Polaris champ, with 10 points (1 win, 4x SL, 2025 LL). If he moves onto the shortlist, or wins, he will be the undisputed champion: FWIW I don’t think that’s likely this year. Shad has never won the prize; he’s the eternal bridesmaid.

Snotty Nose Rez Kids and Basia Bulat move into 2nd tier, with 9 points. Neither have ever won the prize, but even moving up to the shortlist will put them at the top tier (I think this is highly likely for SNRK). Other artists in 2nd tier have all won: Feist, Arcade Fire, Cadence Weapon (who did not longlist for his April 2024 album that was also eligible last year).

The Sadies now enter the 3rd tier, with 8 points (2x SL, 3X LL, 2025 LL). Other artists on 3rd tier: Drake (whose new record did not longlist), Dan Boeckner, Owen Pallett, and New Pornographers.

Destroyer now has 7 points (2x SL, 2x LL, 2025 LL), inching closer to his former bandmates in the New Pornographers.

The Weekend and Joel Plaskett, both of whom have 7 points, did not make this year’s long list, and neither did Jessie Reyez, Kaytranada or Fucked Up, all of whom have 6 points; the latter two are previous winners. All of those artists had eligible albums this year.

Shortlist prediction:

I usually get at least 5 correct, though rarely more than 7.

Bibi Club - Feu de garde

Antoine Corriveau - Oiseau de Nuit

Saya Gray - Saya

Men I Trust - Equus Asinus

Mustafa - Dunya

Nemahsis - Verbathim

Population II - Maintenant Jamais

Ribbon Skirt - Bite Down

Snotty Nose Rez Kids - Red Future

The Weather Station - Humanhood

Here’s the full list:

Art d'Ecco - Serene Demon
Backxwash - Only Dust Remains
Quinton Barnes - Code Noir
Bibi Club - Feu de garde
Basia Bulat - Basia's Palace
Caribou - Honey
Lou-Adriane Cassidy - Journal d'un Loup Garou
Choses Sauvages - Choses Sauvages III
Cold Specks - Light For The Midnight
Antoine Corriveau - Oiseau de Nuit
Marie Davidson - City Of Clowns
Destroyer - Dan's Boogie
Myriam Gendron - Mayday
Gloin - All of your anger is actually shame (and I bet that makes you angry)
Saya Gray - Saya
Hildegard - Jour 1596
Yves Jarvis - All Cylinders
Kaia Kater - Strange Medicine
Bells Larsen - Blurring Time
Richard Laviolette - All Wild Things Are Shy
Wyatt C. Louis - Chandler
Kelly McMichael - After The Sting Of It
Men I Trust - Equus Asinus
Mustafa - Dunya
N NAO - Nouveau langage
Nemahsis - Verbathim
Eliza Niemi - Progress Bakery
The OBGMs - Sorry, It’s Over
Dorothea Paas - Think Of Mist
Klô Pelgag - Abracadabra
Population II - Maintenant Jamais
Ribbon Skirt - Bite Down
Ariane Roy - Dogue
Mike Shabb - Sewaside III
Sister Ray - Believer
Snotty Nose Rez Kids - Red Future
The Weather Station - Humanhood
Rick White and The Sadies - s/t
Donovan Woods - Things Were Never Good If They're Not Good Now
Yoo Doo Right - From the Heights of Our Pastureland

Personal faves missing: Cuff the Duke, Change of Heart, Abigail Lapell