Polaris Prize 2023 preview pt 1

Alvvays, Aysanabee, Begonia, Daniel Caesar, Feist & more

The Polaris Music Prize gala happens next Tuesday, September 19. DO YOU HAVE POLARIS FEVER??!!!

Leslie Feist crawling out from underneath her table after her album Metals was named the 2012 winner of Polaris. Photo from the Polaris FB page.

What’s that? You don’t? Not unusual. Every single awards ceremony is going through some kind of crisis right now, all the way up to the Oscars. (Don’t get me started on other Canadian awards.) Polaris is far from immune. But things are looking up.

I’ll explain below, for paid subscribers, as part of a two-part series before next week’s gala. Each will focus on five shortlisted albums, their chances of winning, and five albums I think should have been on the list.

I’ve made a Tidal playlist of the shortlist here. I wrote about the long list here. Public tickets to the gala are available here. Because you read this newsletter, you can enter the promo code Polaris50 to get half-price tickets.

This year’s shortlist features three very popular artists: Daniel Caesar, Alvvays and Feist. I don’t like saying this out loud, but…