Thursday night’s Soca Monarch competition was a high energy affair with a calypso veteran crowned the king of groovy soca and the 2023 jumpy soca winners retaining their crown.
The Soca Monarch competition on Thursday evening, Boxing Day featured a mix bag of performances, with some artists easily connecting with the audience and others struggling to hype themselves and the crowd.
Keithroy “De Bear” Morson, a veteran calypsonian with more than a dozen crowns to his title, entered the soca competition for the second year in the row. His groovy contribution Just Like Dat hit the mark with the judges and the audience. In the second round, his A Peeping was funny and catchy enough for the crowd to join in. While last year, he was second runner-up in the groovy segment, this year, he claimed the crown. In 2023, De Bear also placed third in the jumpy/power soca segment of the show.
“The future is extremely bright. I am loving what I am seeing,” Jadine Soca Deva Greenaway, said on air during the live broadcast on ZJB Radio. Speaking as one of the show’s commentators, Greenaway said that she could see the improvement in the artists and also the level of preparation that they had put into delivering a quality show for the audience.
Gaining high praise from many were the winners of the jumpy soca segment, Kenville Winspere and Dyvaun Sweeney performing as Lyrikal Tool & D’Vicious. Their jam No Feelings captivated the crowd.
Coming in second were Stephaun Harris and Jordesh George performing as Shella & Big Gee with their song Stress Free.
Interestingly, both the first and second place jumpy soca winners are part of the same group call Chosen 1NZ. The young men, each talented in their own right as DJs, masquerade dancers and more, have been regularly creating and sharing their content online to build their fan base.
You can follow Lyrikal Tool & D’Vicious on YouTube here.
Shella live streams his DJ sets on Twitch weekly here.
Other notable performances of the evening, was the return of Basil Chambers to the stage, not as the MC but as a jumpy soca performer. Dressed as a green masquerade Uncle Bas sang Clear de Way. His song was a tribute to the past, present, and future and a passing of the baton to a new generation of performers who have never seen him as a singer.
More than $25000 in cash prizes was awarded to the top three and special prize winners in the competition.
The results are as follows:
Groovy Soca Monarch Special Prizes
Best New Artist: Shaquille “Vybz It” White
Soca Spirit: Patrick “Dardo” Duberry
Dyllon Lighta Cassell Groove Master: Shaquille “Vybz It” White
Crowd Favourite: Shaquille “Vybz It” White
Most Energetic Performance: Patrick “Dardo” Duberry
Most Improved: Patrick “Dardo” Duberry
Most Comedic: Sanjarion “Sanjarion” Prince
Justin Hero Cassell Most Groovy: Kevin “King Nattie Negus” Farrell
Groovy Soca Monarch
Winner – Keithroy “De Bear” Morson – Just Like Dat
1st runner-up – Alvin “Dardo” – Bad Company
2nd runner-up – Shaquille “Vybz It” White
Jumpy Soca Monarch
Winner – Kenville “Lyrikal Tool” Winspere & Dyvaun “D’Vicious” Sweeney – No Feelings
1st Runner-up – Stephaun “Shella”Harris & Jordesh “Big Gee” George – Stress Free
2nd Runner-up – Keithroy “De Bear” Morson – A Peeping
Jumpy Soca Monarch Special Prizes
Best New Artist: Stephaun “Shella”Harris & Jordesh “Big Gee” George
Soca Spirit: Samran “Nyne” Woodley
Vibes Master: Kenville “Lyrikal Tool” Winspere & Dyvaun “D’Vicious” Sweeney
Crowd Favourite: Kenville “Lyrikal Tool” Winspere & Dyvaun “D’Vicious” Sweeney
Most Jumpy: Stephaun “Shella”Harris & Jordesh “Big Gee” George
Most Improved: Sanjarion “Sanjarion” Prince
Most Comedic: Brian “I-Cultural” Charles
Listen to the ZJB coverage of the 2024 Soca Monarch competition here.
