Raucous, adrenaline-pumping and oftentimes euphoric, soca has provided the energetic soundtrack to Carnival in Trinidad — the larger island in the twin island nation of Trinidad and Tobago — for the past 50 years. Trinidad’s world-renowned pre-Lenten carnival, which attracts thousands of visitors and was held this year on Feb. 20 and 21, is the most important event on the soca calendar.
An up-tempo derivative of calypso, soca was initially characterized by a meld of Indian instrumentation with calypso’s African-derived rhythms — a sonic representation of the dominant ethnicities in cosmopolitan Trinidad. Developed by the late calypsonian Lord Shorty, later Ras Shorty I, soca was first heard on his 1973 single "Indrani," as sokah, that is "the soul of calypso."
Soca absorbed various influences throughout the ensuing decades, resulting in dramatic changes in its aural identity. From the soulful, funk and disco-inspired early hits to the swaying, orchestrated brass arrangements heard in the 1980s; soca began to feature "jump and wave," crowd rousing, participatory lyrics supported by hyper-energetic, synth driven rhythms in the mid to late '90s. In the mid-2010s, EDM sonics that impacted the sound of soca, while Afrobeats inflections that have shaped the music in recent years.
Whatever elements are introduced to soca, the music is bolstered by a mandate to keep Carnival revelers energized for extended periods of waving and "wining" — a fluid movement of waist and hips. Press play on the Amazon Music playlist below for more essential soca songs, or listen on Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora.
While some Caribbean islands, including Antigua, Barbados, Grenada and St. Lucia, hold their carnivals in the summer months to increase tourism, Trinidad’s Carnival season officially commences immediately after Christmas, similar to New Orleans’ pre-Lenten Mardi Gras. The Carnival season is rife with parties, concerts and musical competitions, all leading up to two days of boisterous, rum-splashed, masquerading street parades, on the climactic Monday and Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday.
In Trinidad, preparations for the following year’s Carnival begin shortly after the conclusion of previous year’s event. In the last quarter of the year, soca artists begin releasing music for the following year’s carnival. Meet five soca artists whose new releases soundtrack 2023 Carnival events, and are making great strides towards taking soca beyond the margins of the seasonal celebration.
Machel Montano
The OG of the current generation of soca hitmakers, Machel Montano recently celebrated his 40th anniversary in music. In 2022, which included the publication of his biography, King of Soca, written by his mother/former manager, Elizabeth Montano, Machel’s sold-out Soca Kingdom concert at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, made him the first soca artist to fill the prestigious venue.
Many soca fans were first introduced to a precocious, 10-year-old Machel with his 1985/1986 endearing hit "Too Young to Soca" or on television talent competition "Star Search" in 1987. He signed to the U.S. independent Delicious Vinyl in 1995 and released the soca/house hit "Come Dig It," which reached international dance audiences.
Throughout the remainder of the '90s, Montano modernized and accelerated soca’s tempo, fusing it with hip-hop beats, dancehall riddims, and techno effects in an effort to make Trinidadian music palatable to a younger generation. The blueprint yielded numerous carnival hits including "Big Truck," the 1997 Road March winner (the song played the most on carnival Monday and Tuesday) and 1998’s "Toro Toro," which catapulted Montano to soca superstardom. Over the decades, Machel has continued to innovate, winning numerous Carnival competitions including ten Road March titles, by working with various songwriters and producers. His many high-profile collaborators include Ariana Grande, Ashanti, Wyclef Jean, Major Lazer, Pitbull, Sean Paul and Shaggy. Montano has performed at the White House and played the lead role in a film based on his music, Bazodee.
For Carnival 2023, Machel has released "Never Again," which expresses heartfelt joy towards Carnival’s return and "Welcome Home," a powerhouse collaboration with Trinidad’s Voice The Artist, Jamaican dancehall luminary Agent Sasco and Trinidadian producer/DJ Travis World. He also dropped the thunderous "Shake The Place," a reunion with Destra Garcia (with whom he teamed up with in 2002 for the anthemic "It’s Carnival"). Machel’s 40th anniversary celebrations concluded on Feb. 17 in Trinidad’s capital, and featured an all-star cast of local and international artists including Afrobeats sensation Wizkid; earlier that day, a "Shake The Place" remix dropped, featuring Trinidad-born rapper Nicki Minaj.
Patrice Roberts
Patrice Roberts’ distinctive, raspy, vocal tone and her assertive lyrics have made her one of the genre’s most popular artists. Like Machel, her former mentor, the dynamic Roberts started her career as a child singing calypso and won several national junior competitions in T&T.
While still in her teens, she became the first female frontline singer with Machel’s band, Xtatik. In 2006, Machel and Patrice’s collaboration "Band of the Year" earned them Road March honors, with Patrice making history as the youngest female to attain that victory. She followed that triumph with a succession of hits, from the charming "Sugar Boy," to the scorching "Wukking Up," to a pledge of love on the Afrobeats-infused "Tender."
Alongside a cast of formidable female dancehall and soca artists, Roberts was featured on Nicki Minaj’s October 2022 "Fine Nine Remix" of Jamaican dancehall star Skeng’s "Likkle Miss." Her biggest hit to date is "Mind My Business," which became a social media phenomenon throughout 2022, establishing Patrice as soca’s most streamed female artist.
Her Carnival 2023 releases include a remake of the late calypsonian Penguin’s double-entendre laden "Soft Man," the reflective "Bless This Party" and another vibrant duet with Montano, "Like Yuh Self," a celebration of Carnival wining.
Voice
From his runner-up placement at T&T TV station’s "Synergy Soca Star" competition to winning three consecutive Soca Monarch contests (2016-2018) singer/songwriter Voice (a.k.a. Voice the Artist) has emerged as one of the genre’s most exciting talents. Born Aaron St. Louis, the honeyed-tenor vocalist is renowned for his electrifying live performances and writing songs with substantial lyrics that update classic soca’s danceable grooves with a contemporary polish.
Voice’s Soca Monarch victories were in the competition’s Groovy category, which is the music’s slower paced, more melodic strain. Voice’s initial win in 2016, with the motivational "Cheers to Life," made the then 23-year-old the youngest artist to capture the crown. He triumphed in 2017 with the spiritually resonant, autobiographical "Far From Finished" and prevailed again in 2018 with "Year For Love," a timely commentary on spiraling violence. In 2019, Voice bowed out of Carnival competitions, writing on Instagram that he would "pursue different challenges; my biggest goal now is to do my part to have soca become a globally recognized genre."
During the pandemic, Voice's musical releases continued to impress. 2022’s "Out and Bad" prominently sampled the late icon Lord Kitchener’s 1977 jewel "Brooklyn Woman," creating a pulsating tribute to calypso’s grandmaster. With Carnival 2023 now in full swing, Voice’s current singles include a paean to the multifaceted event, "The Return" featuring Barbados’ soca queen Alison Hinds and a stunning tribute to carnival’s persisting soundtrack, "Long Live Soca."
Skinny Fabulous
On the intro to his recently released debut album B. A.D. (Beyond A Doubt) singer/songwriter Skinny Fabulous declares, "I am very happy that I am one of the ambassadors of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, I was born to do music, I was born to be of something bigger than myself."
While studying in Kingston, Jamaica, Skinny pursued a career in dancehall reggae; when that didn’t work out, he returned to St. Vincent and fused his love of dancehall with soca. He won the 2008 St. Vincent Carnival Road March with the frenetic "Head Bad" — a song characterized by robust vocals, reminiscent of his musical hero, veteran Jamaican toaster Bounty Killer, who is featured on B. A.D.
"Head Bad" created a demand for Skinny throughout the Caribbean, in the U.S. and in parts of Europe. Skinny has written/co-written several hits for other soca stars including Machel Montano’s joyous EDM-infused "Happiest Man Alive" and his diss record (a rarity in soca) "Dr Mashup," aimed at soca veteran Iwer George. Skinny’s collaboration with Machel and Bunji Garlin — the 2019 Road March winner "Famalay" — made him the first non-national of T&T to share that honor.
Skinny is the executive producer of this year’s Spirit of Carnival Project, with four artists recording hit songs on the same transcendent soca beat: Montano ("The Spirit,") Garlin ("Umbrella,") Kes The Band ("Mental Day,") and Skinny’s "Behavior Nothin." Another big Carnival 2023 release for Skinny is "Come Home" a duet with Nailah Blackman, the granddaughter of soca’s creator, Lord Shorty.
Kes The Band
The beguiling, pop-leaning, rock and reggae-infused soca by Kes The Band has a resonance beyond the Carnival space, yet consistently impacts the heart of the celebration. The resounding dancehall/soca fusion heard on "HoneyComb" (featuring Jamaica’s Busy Signal, produced by Haiti’s Michael Brun), the exuberant "Fuh Spite" and the sugar sweet "Jub Jub," are but a few of the Carnival 2023 gems by contemporary soca’s most versatile outfit.
Kes The Band was formed in Trinidad in 2005 by the three Dieffenthaller brothers, Kees, also called Kes (vocals), Jon (guitar), Hans (drums), and close friend Riad Boochoon (bass); Hans has since departed the band, replaced by Dean James; supporting members are keyboardist Mario Callender and DJ Robbie Persaud.
Kes won the 2020 Road March for his vigorous collaboration with Iwer George, "Stage Gone Bad." Some of the band’s greatest songs haven’t won Carnival contests, nonetheless they continue to enjoy widespread popularity. Their breakthrough soca hit "Wotless," the always-appealing "Endless Summer" and the tuneful, Afrobeats-tinged "Hello" are all delights — the latter song surpassing 70 million streams to become the most streamed soca song released in the last decade. Kes The Band will drop their latest album, Man With No Door, in the summer on Ineffable Records.
On Feb. 14, Kes The Band headlined their own music festival, IzWe. Although it was staged at the height of Carnival 2023, the festival went beyond featuring soca acts to showcase the diversity of T&T’s music and culture. "As a band, we have always been a bridge between genres, and we wanted to create a festival to represent that," explains Kes, adding that they plan to tour the festival internationally.
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