Canada's 2020 Polaris Music Prize, which honors the best Canadian album of the year, had a tight list of nominees this year, but Backxwash's God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It ended up taking home the award. The album beat out records by fellow 2020 nominees U.S. Girls, Lido Pimienta, Jessie Reyez, Caribou, Junia-T, Kaytranada, nêhiyawak, Pantayo, and Witch Prophet.
This year, due to the pandemic, this year's Polaris Prize was given out at a special "cinematic event" broadcast live from Toronto venue The Carlu on Monday night. The award was announced by last year's winner, Haviah Mighty.
While reflecting on her win, Backxwash said, "Be as honest as you want to be and create the art that you want to." She noted how important, as a Black trans woman, this recognition is. "My existence itself is already political, my livelihood is political, and the livelihood of my sisters and my brothers is political. We just want our rights and we have to go through so many hurdles to do that and I feel very connected to that struggle."
You can watch the entire ceremony, as well as Backxwash's reaction to her win (in which she immediately exclaimed, "We did it!") and stream the album, below.
The album was followed later this year by the Stigmata EP, both of which heavily feature both members of Black Dresses (Ada Rook and Devi McCallion). Stream that below too.
