Magnificent Voice

During his performance, problems arose with his music and Voice was forced to start over. Performing in the 21st position, Voice came out strong but the music sounded off key and realising this he asked, “Where the music?” but continued singing. Shortly after, Voice and his dancers walked off the stage. Host Jason Williams returned on stage, apologised and said it was only right that the young artiste gets another chance.

The crowd began chanting Voice’s name until he returned to the stage.

When he did, Voice said, “They can’t stop me”, to the crowd’s delight. He sang every note perfectly and engaged the crowd. Adding a new verse, he sang, “I don’t mind if they beat me, it’s not about the money, it’s not about winning, if I could change the life of a younger one then I know for sure that my battle is already won.” The crowd erupted in cheers. Voice ended with the crowd chanting his name.

But Voice left for home and was not at the stadium when he was announced the winner. His mother Jane St Louis told reporters he was felt down and left.

“He realised it wasn’t normal but God is good. He always reigns and this is a lesson for Aaron, so he would know as long as you believe and have faith He would take you through,” she said.

She shared that when he came off stage she offered words of encouragement, letting him know that he was her winner.

Stephen St Louis, Voice’s father, said he was elated disclosing that when his son came off stage he hugged him and told God was the boss.

In an interview with Looptt.com, Voice thanked God for his success.

He said when he took the stage the first time, he realised he wasn’t hearing himself and thought it was due to an issue with the microphone.

“Then I realised the beat wasn’t coming in so I thought they missed the timing and it would have come in on the chorus and I reach the chorus, the beat still didn’t come so I looked to my left and I saw one of the guys from Roy Cape telling me to come off the stage like something was wrong with the board.

After 20 contestants, the 21st one and something was wrong with the board,” he said.

Asked if he felt it was sabotage, Voice said he couldn’t say and “God alone knows”.

He said he didn’t feel good after his performance and broke down.

“You work so hard and you want to achieve something and just things come in the way and you can’t control it. I felt I disappointed a lot of people because the expectations were very high and at that point in time, there as nothing else I could have done but cry,” he told the online news outlet.

Placing second was Orlando Octave with his song, Single. This was Octave’s first time in the finals and he impressed the judges with his strong vocals and entertaining performance.

The crowd loved Octave’s freestyle when he threw jabs at his fellow finalists but he also used his skills to address crime, singing, “they don’t fear God no more, they killing our children, raping our women, no murder not solving, can you see Christ is coming,” Octave told Sunday Newsday, he felt good but his main concern was about spreading the message about domestic violence.

“I get to express how I felt about that on two big stages, Machel Monday and Soca Monarch that was the winning part for me,” he said.

In third place was Devon Matthews, featuring Ella Andall, with the song, D Journey (Make It). Speaking to Sunday Newsday, Matthews said he felt really good. This year is a year of threes for Devon as this was his third time in Soca Monarch finals and he also placed third in this year’s Young Kings. He dedicated his success to his father, who died last year. He said he believed his father was watching over him on Friday night.

“I believe he was right there with me, I actually believe in angels now,” he said.

One crowd favourite whose fourth place surprised many was Neil “Iwer” George.

Iwer ensured everyone had a chance to jump in the water while singing his song, Take a Bathe with sprinklers shooting water everywhere.

Other memorable performances include Terri Lyons with her song I am Lion. With a jungle theme, Terri asked the crowd if they wanted to meet the real regal lion and as she chanted “Lion”, a man dressed as a lion crawled out and when he stood up and removed the mask the crowd screamed as they saw soca icon, Austin “Super Blue” Lyons, Terri’s father.

He hugged and kissed his daughter and jumped with her as she continued her performance.

Terri also brought out her son and told the crowd, he was the reason she pushes so hard.

Another surprise was Kees Dieffenthaller who performed twice. First he appeared with Nailah Blackman to sing their song, Workout and then right after he appeared on stage with Kernal Roberts to sing Shake.

The competition was expected to begin at 10 but the first competitor took the stage at about 11.26 pm. The show ended at about 4.15 am yesterday.