Pierre Kwenders has won the 2022 Polaris Music Prize, which is presented annually to Canada’s best album of the year by a jury of journalists and broadcasters. The Congolese-Canadian artist’s José Louis and The Paradox of Love was selected over albums such as Charlotte Day Wilson’s ALPHA, Destroyer’s LABYRINTHITIS, Lisa Leblanc’s Chiac Disco, and Ouri’s Frame of a Fauna. The win comes with a $50,000 prize.
“This is for all the kids from the diaspora, the African diaspora, moving in Canada,” Kwenders said in a statement. “Sometimes you feel like you don’t know what you’re running into, or what you’re coming into. But there is hope, there is a place to live and dream and be yourself. This album, especially, is about being yourself and telling your own story. José Louis And The Paradox Of Love is there for you, you know, if you feel you can connect, connect! Let’s talk! Let’s have fun! Let’s be ourselves! Let’s love each other, while we are alive. Bisou!”
Last year’s Polaris Prize winner was Cadence Weapon.
