Avant-garde rapper Backxwash has won the 2020 Polaris Music Prize for her album 'God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It'. Backxwash, the stage name of performer Ashanti Mutinta, blends gothic elements of rap and metal music with her own personal experiences with faith, family and her queer identity. Also nominated were Caribou, Junia-T, Kaytranada, nêhiyawak, Pantayo, Lido Pimienta, Jessie Reyez, U.S. Girls, and Witch Prophet.

The 2020 short list for the Polaris Music Prize has been officially unveiled, with 10 albums for the Canadian music prize whittled down from a 40 albums list. One grand prize of $50,000 will be awarded on October 19. The other short list contenders will receive prizes of $3,000 each.

The nominees are:

Backxwash - 'God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It'
Caribou - 'Suddenly'
Junia-T - 'Studio Monk'
Kaytranada - 'Bubba'
nêhiyawak - 'nipiy'
Pantayo - 'Pantayo'
Lido Pimienta - 'Miss Colombia'
Jessie Reyez - 'Before Love Came to Kill Us'
U.S. Girls - 'Heavy Light'
Witch Prophet - 'DNA Activation'

"The most uniquely stirring pop music in recent memory" - Stereogum writes in a review of Colombian-Canadian singer Lido Pimienta's new album, which also mixes folk genres with modern and orchestral production. Songs at 'Miss Colombia' "brilliantly deconstruct and reimagine the country’s signature sounds" with "powerfully original music, refracting the cultures that formed her through the prism of her own inspiration". Pimienta described the album as "a cynical love letter to Colombia", a stand taken after a mishap at the 2015 Miss Universe when the name of Miss Colombia was read as the winner when actually it was Miss Philipines who won.

Some great songs today: Moses Sumney takes a sweet spot somewhere between soul, folk and electro on 'Conveyor', latest song from his double debut album 'græ'; Bat for Lashes plays a stripped-down cover of 'The Boys Of Summer'; free jazz meets afro-pop on 'No Mas' by Irreversible Entanglements: just a nice dream-pop song 'The Absence of Bird' by the Swedes The Radio Dept; some original gangsta rap on 'The Ruler' by Drakeo; the Voidz continue to have fun + be cool + avoid getting ridiculous on two new songs - 'Russian Coney Island' and 'All the Same'; simple and fun video for '3 Tearz' by Danny Brown and Run the Jewels; Swedish dream-pop artist I Break Horses go ethereal on 'Death Engine'; Makaya McCraven’s dreamy reimagining of Gil Scott-Heron’s 'I’m New Here'; Basia Bulat made 'Already Forgiven' based on the sound of strong wind; James Elkington plays lush orch-pop on 'Nowhere Time'; the Colombian-Canadian singer Lido Pimienta goes latin-synth pop on 'Eso qeu tu haces'; KennyHoopla is halfway between Bloc Party and A-ha in his 'how will i rest in peace if i’m buried by a highway?//' video; Spanish quartet Melenas play disco shoegaze on '3 Segundos'; Indonesian solo sympho-black metal project Pure Wrath is seeking truth and peace at 'Children of the Homeland'. Plenty of songs, dedicate an hour to listen to all of it...