Electronic dance musician Debby Friday has won the 2023 Polaris Music Prize for her album, Good Luck.
Friday beat out the likes of Feist, Alvvays, The Sadies and Dan Mangan for the prize, which also comes with a $50,000 reward courtesy of Slaight Music.
The Polaris Music Prize is presented by CBC Music and is determined by a Grand Jury of 11 music media professionals in Canada. Eligible albums for consideration this year had to be released between May 1, 2022 and May 1, 2023.
Friday performed during the awards gala at Massey Hall in Toronto along with other nominees Aysanabee, Begonia, Gayance, Dan Mangan, The Sadies, and Snotty Nose Rez Kids.
“Major congratulations to our winner Debby Friday, and to all of the spectacular artists nominated this year. The act of making music in our current economic ecosystem is a labour of love that comes at a cost,” said Melissa Vincent, Polaris Jury Foreperson.
The full 2023 Polaris Short List included:
- Alvvays – Blue Rev
- Aysanabee – Watin
- Begonia – Powder Blue
- Daniel Caesar – Never Enough
- Feist – Multitudes
- Debby Friday – Good Luck
- Gayance – Masquerade
- Dan Mangan – Being Somewhere
- The Sadies – Colder Streams
- Snotty Nose Rez Kids – I’m Good, HBU?
The Grand Jury who decided the winner was:
- Kelsey Adams (CBC Music)
- Joëlle Bertrand (Amazon Music Canada)
- Ryan Bresee (CKCU)
- Jamaias DaCosta (Deejay Jams)
- Ona-Lee Demong (CFCR)
- Mike Devlin (Victoria Times Colonist)
- Sarah Erasmus (Cabin Radio)
- Marie-Ève Fortin-Laferrière (Freelance Writer)
- Mitch Pollock (Q with Tom Power)
- Laura Stanley (Freelance Journalist)
- Adam White (Some Party).
Watch Debby Friday accept the 2023 Polaris Music Prize below.
The Polaris Music Prize will air on CBC Music Live on Friday, September 22 at 2 p.m. ET on CBC Radio One and CBC Listen and Monday, September 25 at 6 p.m. ET on CBC Music and CBC Listen.
