Azure Pipeline dotnet not creating release build

I’m trying to create an artifact from the project I built on Azure Pipelines in a release build, but when I look at the results of the build it’s in Debug mode and I’m not sure what I’m doing incorrect.

I’m passing the build configuration through a variable, but I checked it via the names of the steps and it looks correct and I’ve read through the documentation to double check what I’m doing wrong but nothing seems off to me

# .NET Desktop
# Build and run tests for .NET Desktop or Windows classic desktop solutions.
# Add steps that publish symbols, save build artifacts, and more:
# https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/devops/pipelines/apps/windows/dot-net
trigger:
- azure-pipelines-self-hosted

pool:
  vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'

variables:
  solution: 'Something.sln'
  buildPlatform: 'Any CPU'
  buildConfiguration: 'Release'

steps:

- task: UseDotNet@2
  inputs:
    version: '5.0.x'
    packageType: 'sdk'

- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  displayName: 'dotnet restore'
  inputs:
    command: restore
    projects: $(solution)
    feedsToUse: select

- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  displayName: 'dotnet build $(buildConfiguration)'
  inputs:
    command: build
    includeNuGetOrg: true
    projects: $(solution)
    configuration: '--configuration $(buildConfiguration)'

- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  displayName: 'dotnet test $(buildConfiguration)'
  inputs:
    command: 'test'
    projects: $(solution)
    configuration: '--configuration $(buildConfiguration)'


- task: CopyFiles@2
  inputs:
    sourceFolder: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
    Contents: |
      **/*
      !.git/**/*
    targetFolder: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'

- task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
  inputs:
    pathToPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
    artifactName: drop