{"id":71898,"date":"2025-08-15T15:27:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T15:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/71898\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T15:27:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T15:27:09","slug":"meet-the-five-artists-up-for-the-first-polaris-song-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/71898\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the five artists up for the first Polaris Song Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first time ever, SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada)\u00a0and the Polaris Music Prize<\/a> have joined forces to create an award to honour the artist or group responsible for penning the year\u2019s best Canadian song, based on artistic merit alone.<\/p>\n

The winner of the inaugural SOCAN Polaris Song Prize<\/a> will take home $10,000, which will be split between the song\u2019s Canadian performers and credited songwriters. The winner will be announced at the Polaris Concert and Gala at Toronto\u2019s Massey Hall on Sept. 16.<\/p>\n

Last month, Polaris announced a five-artist short list for the prize, made up of Mustafa,\u00a0Ribbon Skirt, Yves Jarvis, Lou-Adriane Cassidy and\u00a0Saya Gray.<\/p>\n

The Star caught up with these five artists to break down their nominated songs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Mustafa<\/a> is a singer, songwriter and poet from Toronto, whose music blends\u00a0North American folk with elements of traditional Sudanese and Middle Eastern music. On his Polaris Prize-nominated album \u201cDunya,\u201d which arrived following the death of his older brother, Mustafa grapples with questions of faith and rootedness in the shadow of grief.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The aching song \u201cGaza Is Calling\u201d explores the relationship between Mustafa and his close childhood friend,\u00a0whose family fled from Gaza only to be caught up in new cycles of violence and trauma in their adopted home.\u00a0The song was co-written alongside Emmanuel Hailemariam and Simon Hessman, and features production from electronic musician Nicolas Jaar.<\/p>\n

What is this song about and why do you think it connected with listeners?<\/p>\n

\u201cGaza Is Calling\u201d is about the freedom of the individual and it, in turn, became a song that\u2019s about the freedom of an entire nation.<\/p>\n

I think people connected to its openness \u2014 it\u2019s not particularly a political anthem, you know. It\u2019s a song about a relationship with someone who is standing at the receiving end of a lot of political turmoil. And I think everyone can feel that in some way. Everyone understands that there are walls or some sort pain that can exist in between them and the people that they love.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"Toronto
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

How did the song come together?<\/p>\n

Initially, it was a folk song that I wrote in Stockholm with the help of Simon and Emmanuel on the guitar. I brought it to Nicolas Jaar because he\u2019s one of my favourite producers in the world and he\u2019s half-Palestinian. He was living in Bethlehem at the time and I thought: What a great ode to a song about a boy who fled his homeland, to have it lifted sonically by someone who has returned to their homeland for the first time.<\/p>\n

You wrote this song years ago, but it arrived at a time when Gaza was very much in the news and on people\u2019s minds. Do you think the song has taken on a new significance or meaning?<\/p>\n

Yes. I think that\u2019s the beautiful thing about songs is that they transform trough the years. Watching this song grow legs and grow meaning, and grow into a kind of armour for people who need it was really important for me.<\/p>\n

Is there a lyric that means the most to you?<\/p>\n

The opening lines: \u201dWhich drug did you take to look at me that way? \/\u00a0Don\u2019t take it again, but if you do, give me part of your day.\u201d<\/p>\n

These lyrics are a reminder that sometimes, the way you enter someone\u2019s heart, or the way someone enters yours, is at their lowest point. I remember talking to this boy, and it was only when he was high or when he was hallucinating that I was able to reach him in some way. It\u2019s not lost on me that sometimes the only opportunity we have to be seen is at our most vulnerable.<\/p>\n

\"Mustafa<\/p>\n

Toronto songwriter Mustafa is nominated for the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize for his song \u201cGaza Is Calling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack McKain<\/p>\n

The song\u2019s video,\u00a0which stars Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid and Palestinian rapper MC Abdul, is\u00a0both cinematic and heart-wrenching. (The video contrasts scenes of a mother and son living in the safety of exile\u00a0with footage of two young Palestinians living in a refugee camp in the West Bank city of Jenin).\u00a0Why was it important to shoot that video in the West Bank?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bella and I had the idea for a long time. We came together with some other friends to shoot it in New Jersey, and we tried to create a makeshift set that basically felt like a Palestinian home in a Toronto hood. I only realized weeks later that we didn\u2019t have enough footage for a video.<\/p>\n

I was able to connect with Sakir Khader, an unbelievable director in the West Bank, who was able to get parallel footage with a girl who felt to me like a younger Bella. It felt like a magic that I couldn\u2019t have organized without those sudden changes, which were completely circumstantial. I think circumstance leads to beauty a lot of times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Which songwriters do you draw inspiration from?<\/p>\n

I love Cat Stevens. I think he\u2019s one of the most important songwriters of all time.<\/p>\n

When I think of grief and the way that grief is recounted perfectly, I think about Sufjan Stevens and his album \u201cCarrie & Lowell,\u201d and even his latest, \u201cJavelin.\u201d I think those records in a lot of ways have helped me understand writing. What he does is so profound.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the Canadian greats: from Joni (Mitchell) to Leonard (Cohen) to Neil Young. And, oh my God, Cindy Lee. What a great songwriter. I\u2019m really grateful to be born of a country with people who can be comfortably heralded as the most important songwriters of all time.<\/p>\n

Is there another song you think should be on the Polaris Song Prize short list?<\/p>\n

Anything from the new\u00a0Destroyer<\/a>\u00a0album\u00a0(\u201cDan\u2019s Boogie\u201d) should be on the list.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Ribbon Skirt is a Montreal-based duo made up of vocalist and guitarist Tashiina Buswa and multi-instrumentalist\u00a0Billy Riley. The band\u2019s debut studio album, the Polaris Prize-nominated \u201cBite Down,\u201d is a jagged but propulsive collection of grungy rock songs that explore Buswa\u2019s\u00a0experiences as an\u00a0Anishinaabe woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is \u201cWrong Planet\u201d about?<\/p>\n

I wrote the lyrics in chunks over a period of time, chronologically from the first verse to the outro. The first verse and chorus was written the day after I took a very long bus ride and had a lot of time to think about what was coming next in my life\u00a0\u2014 which at the time felt like a weirdly ominous thing to think about.<\/p>\n

The second verse came out all at once, as I thought about the reality of being an Indigenous woman, how much more at risk we are of disappearing\u00a0\u2014 physically or beyond \u2014 because of the colonial trauma we\u2019ve endured for generations. I was also thinking about my family, symbolism in dreams, shape-shifting, fear of night, etc. I guess it gets a little bit surreal at points, which I think reflects the general chaos and uncertainty of living right now.<\/p>\n

The outro came on the last day of writing and it took me many hours to write because of how it\u2019s sung rhythmically. Lyrically I think it\u2019s trying to grapple with the frustration of chasing peace like a dog chasing its own tail, always slightly out of reach!<\/p>\n

How did the song come together?<\/p>\n

This was one of the first Ribbon Skirt songs (Billy and I) wrote together, which I think ushered in this huge tonal shift for us compared to our previous band, Love Language.\u00a0For this song, specifically, we were trying to just really embrace noise, chaos, feedback, intensity.<\/p>\n

\"ribbon<\/p>\n

Montreal rock duo Ribbon Skirt is nominated for the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize for the song \u201cWrong Planet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ani Harroch<\/p>\n

At the end of the song, you let out this really intense, cathartic scream. How many times did you have to record that?<\/p>\n

It was actually just one take!<\/p>\n

Is there a lyric in the song that is particularly meaningful to you?\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think the line \u201cShe ended up in Red Lake \/ Skirting the highway \/ shape-shifter \/ you\u2019re changing in the moonlight\u201d is probably the line that hits me hardest every time I listen to the song or sing it live. It\u2019s a pretty personal line about a place that means a lot to my family symbolically and is the emotional clincher of the song for me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Would you call this a \u201cprotest song\u201d?<\/p>\n

I honestly don\u2019t really like putting hard labels like that on songs I write\u00a0\u2014 they are always going to mean what they mean to people individually. That being said, this song definitely touches on events that have happened to myself and my family, which has been affected by colonial policies just like every Indigenous family in Canada.<\/p>\n

Pretty much every Indigenous person I know has been affected by the (murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people) crisis, whether directly or indirectly. It\u2019s horrible and it\u2019s ongoing, and the government is perpetually not doing enough despite having clearly outlined deliverables\u00a0\u2014 only 15 of the 94 Truth and Reconciliation Commission\u2019s Calls to Action<\/a> have been implemented in the last 10 years since the TRC was established. I could go on. It deeply pains me for our women, our girls and our two-spirit relatives.<\/p>\n

Do you believe that artists have a role to play in addressing the political crises that our country is facing?<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t speak for anyone but myself, ultimately, but I think about that Nina Simone quote<\/a> all the time: \u201cHow can you be an artist and not reflect the times?\u201d<\/p>\n

Your music has been described as \u201cIndigenous futurism.\u201d What does that term mean to you?<\/p>\n

That term really just means Indigenous artists who are trying to bridge the gap between the past, present and future. I think the idea of an Indigenous person has been mythologized in the collective Canadian consciousness as a figure inherently rooted in the past, rather as someone who is living today in the modern world alongside every other Canadian and wants to forge a better future just like anyone else, while also carrying our traditions and culture into that future.<\/p>\n

Is there another song you think should be on the Polaris Song Prize short list?<\/p>\n

\u201cMagic<\/a>\u201d by Sister Ray. I really love their music and I think this song is a masterpiece. Also \u201cCollege Rock Song #1<\/a>\u201d by Knitting!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Yves Jarvis is a Calgary-born, Montreal-based experimental artist. His fifth album, the Polaris Prize-shortlisted \u201cAll Cylinders,\u201d is an exuberant, kaleidoscopic mishmash of funk, yacht rock and electrifying guitar theatrics.<\/p>\n

We asked Jarvis about \u201cGold Filigree,\u201d a sultry, slow-burning love song.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s this song about?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s broadly about infatuation. I was falling in love and was having vivid fantasies. Passion always evokes regality for me. There\u2019s also a desperate yearning there.<\/p>\n

How did it come together?\u00a0<\/p>\n

I recorded it as a plea, basically. It was just for my girl to hear at first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This song has a very strong Prince vibe.<\/p>\n

I think of Prince any time I tap into heat and romance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is there a lyric in the song that is particularly meaningful to you?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe perfect patine\u201d is my favourite phrase in the song. The jewelry\u2019s wear distinguishes its beauty. The particularities of its imperfections are where the beauty is.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Yves<\/p>\n

Montreal-based experimental artist Yves Jarvis is a finalist for the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize for his song \u201cGold Filigree.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cassanova Cabrera<\/p>\n

There\u2019s some amazing guitar work on this song, which arrives at a moment when electric guitar shredding isn\u2019t really in vogue.<\/p>\n

Guitar is in and out every few years. But it\u2019s back now thanks to Steve Lacy, Mk.gee and the like. I\u2019m never trying to showcase the guitar with a solo, just trying to make it sing and soar and sear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A songwriter who inspires you?<\/p>\n

Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder.<\/p>\n

Is there another song you think should be on the Polaris Song Prize short list?\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think the opening track \u201cWith a Grain\u201d<\/a> from my album \u201cAll Cylinders\u201d is the greatest track I\u2019ve ever made and one of Canada\u2019s greatest cultural exports. I would be more sure-footed if that had been nominated. But no one else could have done \u201cGold Filigree\u201d either. I\u2019m the only nominee that wrote, produced and performed their entire work. It\u2019s all me top to bottom. I punch way above my weight.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Lou-Adriane Cassidy is a singer-songwriter from Quebec City whose unconventional approach to indie pop and folk rock make her one of the most unpredictable and exciting artists to emerge from Canada\u2019s mighty French-language music scene.<\/p>\n

Cassidy\u2019s Polaris Prize-nominated album \u201cJournal d\u2019un Loup-Garou\u201d is a theatrical, genre-blurring rock opera, one that blends deeply personal lyricism with colourful references to werewolves and fairy tales from her childhood.<\/p>\n

We asked Cassidy about \u201cDis-moi dis-moi dis-moi,\u201d an\u00a0emotional, disco-pop epic she co-wrote with producer\u00a0Alexandre Martel. On the song,\u00a0Cassidy explores her complex relationship with her father, who abandoned her when she was 16.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is \u201cDis-moi dis-moi dis-moi\u201d about?\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a song about my father and it contains a lot of references to \u201cE.T.\u201d (the 1982 family sci-fi film), which I watched a lot with him when I was younger. It\u2019s a song about having a relationship with someone that ends really abruptly.<\/p>\n

The song is intense and emotional, but not sad. It\u2019s me, crying at the top of the mountain, screaming to the sky.<\/p>\n

Why did this song connect with listeners?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know! There\u2019s not really a chorus and it\u2019s a pretty complicated, unpredictable song. But I wanted it to have a flow that never stops, in a way that sweeps you along and carries you to the end of the song.<\/p>\n

\"Lo-Adriane<\/p>\n

Quebec singer Lou-Adriane Cassidy is a finalist for the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize for \u201cDis-moi dis-moi dis-moi.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noe\u00b4mi D. Leclerc<\/p>\n

The strings in the second half of the song are really beautiful and cinematic. Did you arrange those?<\/p>\n

Yes, I arranged the strings. There\u2019s a musical theatre side of me that is never far away.<\/p>\n

What emotions were you trying to tap into?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a desperate aspect to this song. I sing \u201dta lumi\u00e8re est sur moi,\u201d which means \u201cyour light is on me\u201d \u2014 that\u2019s a line about a need to prove myself to someone who literally doesn\u2019t care and cannot hear me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But also, there\u2019s hope:\u00a0to grow from that experience and get stronger from within that suffering. It\u2019s got despair and hope at the same time.<\/p>\n

Is there a specific lyric that means a lot to you?<\/p>\n

\u201cExistais-tu vraiment?\u201d (\u201dAre you really real?\u201d). It\u2019s the final line in the song. And it\u2019s like: here\u2019s this big song with big arrangements and all these memories, but in the end I\u2019m left with a ghost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Who is a songwriter that inspires you right now?<\/p>\n

I have a lot of admiration for Mitski. I love the way she mixes her melodies and chord progressions. I feel like it\u2019s always surprising, but it always flows, and there are hooks that listeners can connect with.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is there another song you think should be on the Polaris Song Prize short list?\u00a0<\/p>\n

My best friend Ariane Roy, who is an incredible artist \u2014 I wrote the song \u201cAriane\u201d on my album for her \u2014 she has a new album from this year called \u201cDogue,\u201d and it has this song \u201cI.W.Y.B.,\u201d which stands for \u201cI Want Your Body.\u201d It\u2019s this unapologetically, mad song, but also really dancey. I think she has great musical ideas and I have a lot of admiration for her.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Saya Gray is a singer-songwriter and pop experimentalist from Toronto. Her Polaris Prize-nominated \u201cSaya\u201d is a sonically dense album filled with quirky production and big hooks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShell (of a Man)\u201d is an irresistible song about heartbreak, on which Gray tampers her seething bitterness with dreamy slide guitar and lush vocal harmonies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"How
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Why do you think this song connected with listeners?<\/p>\n

I think anyone who has felt heartbreak or confusion in this world \u2014\u00a0or anyone who has a sense of their own sense of grief, and the need for forgiveness and moving forward in their lives\u00a0\u2014 will understand this song.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How did it come\u00a0together?<\/p>\n

It really was a train of thought that started this song. And the feeling of change.<\/p>\n

\"Saya<\/p>\n

Toronto singer-songwriter Saya Gray is nominated for the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize for her song \u201cShell (of a Man).\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jennifer Cheng<\/p>\n

Was there a\u00a0specific emotion you were trying to tap into?<\/p>\n

I wanted to tell a story without really telling it \u2014 little pieces that stick together and make a frame of an experience that anyone can put their spin on.<\/p>\n

Is there a standout lyric for you?<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do I get past the past?\u201d<\/p>\n

Honesty! A song that really hits you. Leonard Cohen always did that for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time ever, SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada)\u00a0and the Polaris…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-71898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}