Kaytranada had the best album released in the past year from all Canadian artists. The "Glowed Up" producer just nabbed the coveted 2016 Polaris Prize for his 99.9% album, naming him the best album in Canada over the past year. He beat out other artists like Grimes, White Lung and Carly Rae Jespen.
The Montreal-based producer topped a list of 10 artists on the Polaris Prize shortlist. He beat out Andy Shauf The Party, Grimes Art Angels, Black Mountain IV, U.S. Girls Half Free, White Lung Paradise, PUP The Dream Is Over, Jessy Lanza Oh No, Carl Rae Jepsen Emotion and Basia Bulat Good Advice.
Kaytranada was awarded the prize last night (Sept. 19) at a ceremony at The Carlu in Toronto. With the prestigious acknowledgement comes a nice cash prize of $50,000 CAD ($38,000 USD). Each of the other short-listed acts received $3,000 ($2,275 U.S.).
Last year's award winner, Buffy Sainte-Marie announced the winner.
Unlike many other prizes that use fan voting or other sources to gather votes, the albums are voted entirely based on merit, "without regard to musical genre or popularity."
A jury of 192 music journalists, bloggers and broadcasters across Canada, picked 183 titles. This was whittled down to 40 for the long list and then again 10 for the short list.
The eligibility period was from June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016.
Past winners include, Buffy Sainte-Marie (2015), Tanya Tagaq (2014), Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2013), Feist (2012), Arcade Fire (2011), Karkwa (2010), F*cked Up (2009), Caribou (2008), Patrick Watson (2007) and Final Fantasy/Owen Pallett (2006).
