Celebrating the best of Canadian music from 2023. The Polaris Prize awards the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. Hear this year's short-list nominees: Aysanabee; Begonia; Dan Mangan; Gayance; Snotty Nose Rez Kids; Feist; Daniel Caesar; The Sadies; Debby Friday; Alvvays; and past year's winners!
Leonard Cohen's You Want it Darker was released on Oct. 12, 2016, just 19 days before his death, at 82 years old.
We called the album "enlightened, inspired and poignant," with Cohen reflecting on his life through some of the most revealing lyrics of his career. You Want It Darker was shortlisted for the 2017 Polaris Music Prize, and a video for the "Leaving the Table" premiered at the Polaris Music Prize gala in Toronto on Sept. 18.
You can watch the video below for the languid, smoky ballad that sees Cohen confronting the idea of not just letting go, but blissfully doing so after living a lifetime to the fullest. “The wretched beast is tamed,” he sings. “I don’t need a lover, so blow out the flame.”
More to explore:
Polaris 2017: 5 things you didn't know about Leonard Cohen's You Want it Darker
Watch Feist’s tear-jerking tribute to Leonard Cohen from the Junos