KAYTRANADA WINS POLARIS MUSIC PRIZE 2016 WITH ’99.9%’
He came top of a strong shortlist that also included Grimes, Jessy Lanza and Carly Rae Jepsen...
Kaytranada has won 2016’s Polaris Music Prize, the annual award that honours the year’s best album by a Canadian artist.
Kay’s ’99.9%’ went up against a strong list of nominees that included Grimes’ ‘Art Angels’, Jessy Lanza’s ‘Oh No’ and Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘E•MO•TION’. You can see the full shortlist below.
The award was presented by last year’s winner, Buffy Sainte-Marie, who won the gong with her album ‘Power In Blood’. Speaking when he accepted the award from her, Kaytranada said, “Wow, this is amazing. Unbelievable moment right now.”
Earlier this year Kay had his nomination for Dance Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards revoked, due to a mix up in regard to the record's original release date. That was before he revealed his remix of Rihanna’s ‘ANTI’ track ‘Kiss It Better’ during an interview on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 show in June.
Kaytranada also put out a video game before the release of his Polar Music Prize winning XL debut ‘99.9%’ in April, with players that get a high score winning a bonus track from the album, entitled ‘Nobody Beats the Kay’.
Polaris Music Prize shortlist:
Kaytranada ‘99.9%’
Black Mountain ‘IV’
Basia Bulat ‘Good Advice’
Grimes ‘Art Angels’
Carly Rae Jepsen ‘E•MO•TION’
Jessy Lanza ‘Oh No’
PUP ‘The Dream Is Over’
Andy Shauf ‘The Party’
U.S. Girls ‘Half Free’
White Lung ‘Paradise’
Rob McCallum is DJ Mag’s deputy digital editor. Follow him on Twitter here.
