Batson’s talent blooms

The local Soca scene is no different as women battle their male counterparts for attention in order to make name for themselves.

For the genuinely talented Nadia Batson, however, the road to success is paved with the rigours of sacrifice and her passion for words and music, rather than an assortment of sexually suggestive routines.

“It was always my intention to be a serious artiste on stage and create a substantial image for myself without the antics associated with today’s divas,” Batson says. But before the dreams of glam and glitter were concrete in her mind, she simply desired to fight her way out of the poverty she experienced as a child. The 30-year-old singer/songwriter says, “Growing up in poverty, I was determined to make a name for myself and get away from a life of wanting.”

She adds, “I was so poor that at times when there was nothing to eat, I would pelt down mangoes from trees in the yard just to keep from going hungry.”

Unlike some youth who are bewildered by some of their harsh situations, and chose to lose themselves in negative behaviour, Batson says she always saw the positive side of life and still holds the cliche of “never give up” close to her heart. In fact, young aspiring singers and songwriters should bear that thought in mind, as even though it may have been a bit overdone, this theme stands the test of time as powerful Greek philosophers to current hip-hop artists preach the words over and over to young crowds.

Batson gives much of the credit to her parents, who tried to give her all she wanted while growing up, who now often wonders how they came up with the cash to fund some of her unusual choices, such as ballet. Yes it was this early interest in dance that spurred her love for the arts, a love which remained under the covers for a while, since her academic prowess pushed her along the orthodox route of finding a regular job with growth and stability.

For a while, the St George’s College graduate tried the regular jobs and sat behind a computer, filing papers and taking calls, but it was not fulfilling and Batson soon came to realise “The 9-5 thing just isn’t for me.” Deciding to quite her regular job as an implementations facilitator to start a music career is one risk that is paying off high dividends today for the daring songbird as her instant success with her first band “Silhouette” in the 1995 Partytime competition paved the way for six melodious years alongside Andre Tanker until the time of his passing.

She was only a background singer at the time, however, and although her accomplishments as a songwriter were well-known after composing songs like “Go Ahead” and “Do Dat”for Michelle Sylvester, and tunes including “Running Red” and “Jumping Up” for Young Marcel, that saw him walk away with the Junior Soca Monarch title on two occasions, it wasn’t until last year that music lovers took notice of her talent.

Batson took the fourth prize at the International Soca Monarch competition last year with her Zouk influenced “One Island.” She says the song is partly an expression of her interest and love for the Patois that is spoken in St Lucia. According to Batson, “After the original recording of that song, I ventured to St Lucia to have some special patois words infused in the song to create the mood I wanted to get out of it. Also I did not want to offend anyone by using pseudo-patois and get into trouble.”

Batson describes her fourth place as the most fulfilling moment in her musical career thus far, not just because of the song but the chaotic events that occurred that night.

“It was stressful then, but a funny story when I look back at it,” she notes.

Batson had performed at two other events before reaching the competition in the nick of time that night.

She reminisces, “I had just joined Kes The Band and the guys wanted to play back-up for me on my big night, but we had two other gigs on the same night. After performing at Girl Power and another fete, I was caught in traffic with tears flowing down my face when I heard the first Soca Monarch contestant on stage and I was scheduled to render my tune at number three.” Batson says she got changed in the car on her way to perform and had to run through the stadium half-dressed to in order to get backstage and be prepped on time.

Needless to say, it’s a good thing she pushed herself to beat the clock.

She was a hit at the contest and wowed the audience with her energetic and melodious rendition of “One Island.”She is hoping to better that finish this year, as she heads the list of finalists going into the International Soca Monarch competition with a song titled “My Land” featuring her band’s frontliner Kes, and is a close second behind the Bajan Biggy Irie in the Groovy category with her infectious “Caribbean Girl.”

For now, however, Carnival 2007 is Batson’s main concern. She says she does ponder about what she’ll be doing in the future and where she’d like to be, but believes that only God can give and take from us, adding, “I’ll gladly accept whatever is for me as I try to be a spiritual person and I am a believer in God.” And it is this strong faith, alongside a fair amount of “energy drinks”that get her through those longs days of meetings, rehearsals, workouts and performances.

This faith also plays an integral role in helping her overcome some of her biggest challenges on the path to success, the most serious of which has been comments about her “not having the right look for the stage.” And she admits that at times it was an issue, but in the end it didn’t matter since she knew her worth and the depth of her talent. After a struggle with peers on one’s image, it’s not surprising that she doesn’t have to do a striptease on stage to wow her audience and enjoy dong what she does best, making music.

So the road appears to lead to further success for the blossoming artist who is intent on making a reputable name for herself in the music industry.

Should she fail in that endeavour, however, all she wants is to be remembered as “a beautiful person.”