Mustafa, The Weather Station among Polaris Prize 2021 longlist nominees

DijahSB, Cadence Weapon, Yves Jarvis and The Besnard Lakes are also up for the Canadian album prize.

The longlist has been revealed for this year’s Polaris Prize, which annually honours one album by a Canadian artist as determined by a panel of critics.

Among the artists to be nominated for the 2021 iteration are singer-songwriter Mustafa for his debut studio album ‘When Smoke Rises’, and The Weather Station, who released latest LP ‘Ignorance’ in February.

Other artists to appear in this year’s longlist include Cadence Weapon, DijahSB, CFCF, Yves Jarvis, The Besnard Lakes, Yu Su, Daniel Lanois and Thierry Larose. See the full list below – the shortlist will be revealed next month on July 15.

The winner of last year’s Polaris Prize was Montreal-based experimental rapper Backxwash. She received the honour for her debut studio album ‘God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It’.

“I think all my music was missing was a personal story, and I was afraid to put that on the record,” the rapper said when accepting the prize – her win marking the first time a Black transgender artist had received the prestigious award.

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