Crown City captures first 3 places in Power Soca Monarch

by Curlan Campbell, NOW Grenada

• Boyzie recaptured crown at 2019 Power Soca Monarch
• Luni Spark and Electrify capture 2nd place

Last year’s defeat by duo Lil Natty and Thunda offset his chance at capturing his 5th Soca Monarch title. Boyzie, the energetic performer from Crown City in St Patrick made quite a comeback this year with his song “The Return” to power his way to recapturing the crown at the 2019 Power Soca Monarch.

Both his onstage entrance and performance at the National Stadium on Fantastic Friday thrilled his fans as he was carried on stage like a king riding on a giant crown which immediately set the atmosphere for his performance with fireworks. During his performance, Boyzie commanded the crowd from start to finish. They shouted “Mad Ras” one of Boyzie’s aliases and he poked fun at last year’s champions by having guards evict them from an onstage castle signalling that they had been dethroned.

Amassing 263 points, Boyzie was crowned king for the 5th time in his career since winning his first crown in 2013, leaving Lil Natty and Thunda to settle for 4th position. All 3 top places in the Soca Monarch Competition 2019 were taken by soca artistes from St Patrick: 2nd place winners Luni Spark and Electrify with 260 points, and Terra De Governor in 3rd position with 259 points.

The reigning king was quite pleased with the outcome of the competition. “The competition this year has been more intense. When you break down the number of artists in competition, [it] makes it harder for the best of the best to be competing, but we came out and we were victorious,” Boyzie said.

2nd place winners, duo Luni Spark and Electrify, as always brought the energy and silk dance moves onstage and recreated what a true “Bacchanal Party” looks like. Now that the Soca Monarch competition is over, the duo indicated that their focus is set on capturing the road march title.

“We missed the title by 3 points, but I would say that I am happy to settle for that. Congratulations to Boyzie and congratulations to Terra D Governor. We did our best and go out there; people loved it. I felt happy when I came off the stage and that is all that matters and now we are ready for the road. We are going for the road march.”

Kellon and Kelson Ogiste had their plates full on Fantastic Friday as they performed in both the Groovy and Power Soca Monarch. They managed to capture 4th place in the Groovy Monarch. “Blessing to the fans and the people who came out and support. I mean this Soca Monarch was an epic one and that is one to go down in the history books, so I am pleased and we are going for the road right now,” said Kelson Ogiste.

Another energetic performance from Shem “Terra D Governor” Bernard proved that he is not to be taken lightly. His song entitled “Black Power” which paid homage to is African roots hyped the crowd and had them shouting “Woi Woi Woi”. His spontaneous rush towards the crowd to mount a fire breathing dragon to be eventually carried off by his fans, really crowned his performance.

“It has been a long time coming, to be honest, the same 3 of us started off at an early age together, always been together… and grow in life we just knew it would happen. I am ready for 2020, but in the meantime I keep making great music and travelling the world,” said Terra D Governor who also placed 3rd in the Groovy Monarch.

Reigning international Soca Monarch King Hollice “Mr Killa” Mapp was quite impressed with the level of performance shown by all the artistes especially the top 3.

“I think that the performances are amazing and the artistes keep upgrading. I see the presentation, I see the full stage and crowdsurfing. These are some of the things I created that have been executed in a fantastic way, and I just want to say that I am proud of the artistes because they are upgrading. Grenadian music is travelling far and wide and now the performances are growing.”

Mr Killa also took the opportunity to congratulate the first-timers Runi Jay with his hit song “Diagnosis” and his first time in the finals.

The following are the results and points from 2019 Power Soca Monarch: