“It’s my first time on the shortlist, and that really means a lot to me,” says Charlotte Cornfield. | Credit: Colin Medley
Cornfield’s 2026 album Hurts Like Hell
“That put me in the music scene right off the bat,” she says. “I was around musicians all day, then I was out gigging. I did my first gig at O Patro Vys in early 2007.”
Cornfield says her studies at Concordia shaped both her songwriting and musicianship.
“Jazz drum instructor Chris McCann completely changed my approach to time and time-feel, which really influenced my songwriting. My creative writing poetry teacher Sina Queyras [MA 95], was a huge inspiration, and I had a lot of mentorship from Gary Schwartz and his ensemble classes,” she says.
“I had some really great teachers and connected with so many musicians. Concordia was an amazing time.”
Coming full circle
Hurts Like Hell is Cornfield’s sixth album and her first since becoming a mother in 2023.
Recorded with producer Philip Weinrobe at Sugar Mountain Studio in January 2025, the album was captured live with minimal overdubs and no headphones, allowing Cornfield and her band to work instinctively together in the studio.
“This approach suited the songs in a beautiful way,” she says. “There was a real intimacy to the way we made this record that I think makes the emotionality of the songs come across.”
Now based in Toronto, Cornfield will perform at the Polaris Concert and Award Ceremony on September 22, before returning to Montreal to headline a show at the 25th edition of the POP Montreal International Music Festival on September 24 at La Sotterenia. It’s a full-circle moment: she namechecks POP Montreal in her song “Long Game” on Hurts Like Hell and first performed at the festival in 2008.
“Attending POP Montreal each year was like Christmas for me because I got to discover so many local and international bands,” she says.
“I’m really excited to come back and bring the band because I love the city and POP Montreal is one of my favourite festivals.”