This year, the Polaris Music Prize celebrates its 20th year, kicking off the celebrations by unveiling their 2025 Long List last week. While my initial reaction to the long list isn't one of overwhelming excitement, I suspect this has more to do with my own evolving tastes drifting away from what my fellow Polaris jurors are gooning over rather than any fault of the list itself. These are my initial musings on the long list, some early thoughts for the upcoming short list (and the 2026 edition), and a rapidly growing list of music I'm eager to delve into and write more about later this summer when time allows.
![the act of just being [t]here](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!McXN!,w_80,h_80,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fab2fad98-6f90-4e0d-bd57-65f637318d2f_500x500.png)
![the act of just being [t]here](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Cdwc!,e_trim:10:white/e_trim:10:transparent/h_72,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5847ef94-3036-47ca-9b03-809c7e95fb65_1344x256.png)
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Polaris Music Prize Musings
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This year, the Polaris Music Prize celebrates its 20th year, kicking off the celebrations by unveiling their 2025 Long List last week. While my initial reaction to the long list isn't one of overwhelming excitement, I suspect this has more to do with my own evolving tastes drifting away from what my fellow Polaris jurors are gooning over rather than any fault of the list itself. These are my initial musings on the long list, some early thoughts for the upcoming short list (and the 2026 edition), and a rapidly growing list of music I'm eager to delve into and write more about later this summer when time allows.