It’s officially Polaris Music Prize season, which kicked off on Tuesday with the announcement of this year’s long list. Now 40 albums from Canadian artists are vying to be named the best album of the year — and they’ll be whittled down to a short list of 10 on July 10.

This year’s long list sees a couple of previous winners — Caribou and Backxwash — surface, with about half the nominees made up of former shortlisted and longlisted artists. One big takeaway: Quebec is hands down the leading home province, as French albums shine bright.

Another big drop arrived this week: CBC Arts released a new and improved edition of Super Queeroes, its incomparable list celebrating 101 great queer artists who have helped shape Canada’s rich 2SLGBTQ+ history. New to the list this year are Mae Martin and Kaytranada, two artists familiar to the CBC Music crowd.

Are you ready to party with Nobro?

Montreal punk powerhouse ‪Nobro‬ brought its fearless energy to the iconic Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto for a night of mayhem and catharsis, and you can watch it all from the comfort of CBC Music’s YouTube page.

How DJ Crip Time is making raves accessible

The dance floor has always been a space to let loose and enjoy music, but for Stefana Fratila, a.k.a. DJ Crip Time, it's a space that doesn't always feel accessible for disabled people. This is partly why the Toronto-based musician, who lives with chronic pain, co-founded Crip Rave, a collective working to remove barriers so that "crip, mad, sick, deaf or disabled talent and partygoers" can enjoy electronic music and raves in a way that is inclusive and accommodating — without sacrificing any of the fun of rave and club culture.

Lights reacts to WTHelly: ‘I’d play this in a hot tub’

In this edition of Jam or Not a Jam, Lights gives her hot tub-ready takes on every track including releases from Tate McRae, Haim and Rob49. 

Tate McRae's sporty blockbuster hit, and 4 more songs you need to hear this week

Tate McRae brings her slick dance moves to a futuristic autobody shop in the music video for Just Keep Watching, as she sings about speeding through a steamy night with a love interest: "Goes like this, start with the track/ eyes on me, archin' my back." The song reunites McRae with producer/songwriter Ryan Tedder, who worked on Greedy, Revolving Door, I Know Love and more, and is a must-hear this week, along with songs from Kaytranada and Justine Skye, Kaleah Lee, Raymond Sewell featuring Laura Roy, and Chippy Nonstop.

A week of lost legends

It’s been a terrible few days of saying goodbye to the legends who raised us: on Monday, Sly Stone, of Sly and the Family Stone fame, died at the age of 82, and two days later we lost Beach Boy Brian Wilson. We’re also mourning Juliette Powell, the MuchMusic host whose beloved shows included Electric Circus and French Kiss, who died on June 3 at the age of 54.

Here are the winners of the 2025 CBC Music Class Challenge: spring edition

The judges have officially selected the winners of the spring edition of the 2025 CBC Music Class Challenge. Thank you to all the teachers and students who participated, and on behalf of everyone at CBC Music and MusiCounts, congratulations to our winners.

Part 2 of the National Indigenous History Month celebrations on Reclaimed

This week on Reclaimed, we're hitting the halfway mark of National Indigenous History Month and the celebration continues with some native pop, R&B, neo-soul, rap, reggae and dance music from around the world. The weather is warming up, and this playlist is going to keep the temperature rising as we cruise toward the summer solstice — unifying nations in the process. Indigenous music is all about relations, so get ready for songs that celebrate kinship, community and many different kinds of connection.

The Beaches party into No. 1, with Maggie Andrew, the Black Keys, and Lous and the Yakuza entering the chart

They love to party all night and rock right to the top of our chart: the Beaches have scored their record-breaking seventh No. 1 single on the CBC Music Top 20 with their latest late-night anthem, Last Girls at the Party. Entering the chart with the most online listener votes this week is CBC Music's 2024 Searchlight winner, Maggie Andrew from Halifax, who skewers the music industry on her hot new single, How to Sing for Money. Plus a dance floor-ready boogie from the Black Keys and a smooth groove from Belgian Congolese singer/actress/model Lous and the Yakuza enter the chart.

Thanks so much for joining us for this issue of Listen Up! If you loved it, feel free to let us know at listenup@cbc.ca — and use the same email if you have questions or suggestions. Please share it with your friends, family and even enemies via cbc.ca/listenup.