Debby Friday wins the 2023 Polaris Music Prize
The $50K prize goes to the Toronto artist for her debut album, Good Luck
Debby Friday has won the 2023 Polaris Music Prize for her album, Good Luck.
An 11-member jury selected the record as the Canadian album of the year, based solely on artistic merit. This announcement was made at Massey Hall in Toronto on Sept. 19.
"I'm in shock," Friday said, when she came onstage to accept the award from last year's winner, Pierre Kwenders. "This is something that I didn't realize was even a possibility. I was born in Nigeria, in a small village, and now I'm here today. It just feels like a miracle."
"I'm just so happy right now," she added.
"I've always been a little bit strange, a little bit different from other people," she continued. "And it's only in retrospect that I've been able to see that this has been a superpower all along. This is actually a gift and I just want to say that I think it's very important to protect your strangeness, protect the things that make you different. These are gifts that you've been given in this lifetime."
The album — her first — was released in March and described by CBC Music producer Kelsey Adams (who also served as a grand juror this year) as "a wild ride through Friday's psyche, full of contradictions and revelations." Featuring a mix of influences spanning techno, punk and more, Good Luck was co-produced by Friday and Polaris-nominated composer and producer, Graham Walsh. The album also received coverage in outlets including NME, Pitchfork and Stereogum.
Friday performed her songs "What a Man" and "So Hard to Tell" with string accompaniment at the gala, where other nominees including the Sadies, Aysanabee, Begonia and Snotty Nose Rez Kids also took the stage. Shortlisters Feist and Daniel Caesar were unable to attend due to prior touring commitments.
Tributes to loved ones were a theme for many of the musicians, as the Sadies performed with an image honouring founding member Dallas Good, who died in February 2022. Aysanabee's album artwork, a painting of his late grandfather, Watin, was also present on stage with him. Dan Mangan also performed "In Your Corner (For Scott Hutchison)," his tribute to Scott Hutchison, the lead singer of Frightened Rabbit who died in 2018.
Highlights from the Polaris Music Prize will air on CBC Music Live on Friday, Sept. 22, at 2 p.m. (2:30 p.m. NT) on CBC Radio One and CBC Listen, and Monday, Sept. 25, at 6 p.m. (6:30 p.m. NT) on CBC Music and CBC Listen.