Bringing the voices of soca together

For Carnival 2017, James has a name change and is offering two songs for Carnival 2017.

In an interview with Newsday, James said of the name change, “At that time I was only about 23 and I was one of the youngest soca artistes out. I said you know I have a voice for soca and I young. So I said Young Voice and people liked it.” The Brooklyn, New York soca artiste said he wanted to sing soca as his family was from TT. “My entire family is from Trinidad. That is the reason calypso stood out to me, the soca, the pan, the iron, the drums and every thing like that.” He recalled immediately coming off of the plane from a visit to TT in 2009 and wanting to sing soca.

The time came, the 31-year-old artiste said, for a name change as, “a lot of people have been seeing my growth as an artiste from 2009 to now and they have been saying when you’re got to get rid of that young. You’re not young again.” He could not go with “Voice”, as it was already taken. But he decided on “One Voice” since he holds the view, “that soca from all Caribbean Islands should grow as one. I see soca as basically one , no one matter which island you come from.” James believes that soca’s evolution and growth is hinged on viewing the soca of Barbados, St Vincent and all other islands as one.

For 2017, James has released two songs; one entitled “Dutty Behavior”. “It speaks to J’Ouvert.

The mud, the oil, jumping up, the paint...just clothes or you will get paint or mud.” The song was released in August this year and according to James, did well at New York’s Labour Day festival, as well as Miami and London Carnivals.

The song, he added, has also been getting heavy rotation on local airwaves.

It was produced by a New York producer called Wildfire and Sherron Lewis on the Breaking Dawn rhythm.

He has also released “Up De Road”- telling of the experience Carnival Monday and Tuesday ‘behind the truck.’ “There is no stopping no matter how tired you are. Non-stop. Carnival is only once a year,” James said when telling of what the song speaks to. It was produced, by Bortherz, a New York production team seeking to enter the soca market. James has made it to the Soca Monarch semi-finals twice, the first being with his first soca attempt called “Jumper Cable” and in 2014 with “Bass”. This is something he hopes to replicate in 2017 and to even make it to this year’s finals.

While he hopes to do well in TT, the growth of Carnivals across the US is also helping artistes like himself.

“There has been a big growth of soca and Carnival in the US with smaller states starting to throw their own little Carnivals.

“Little states that never had a Carnival or knew what a Carnival was are now having their own.

Washington DC has a Carnival and Philadelphia has a Carnival. You would go there and it would be one truck on the road. You would see people coming out in numbers to be with that one truck.” He said it creates business for soca artistes in the US. “The more states that have Carnival , that means bookings for us. It is easier instead of having to book an artiste all the way from the Caribbean, it is easier to get to us,” he said.

James intends to be in a lot of fetes and Carnival competitions for Carnival 2017.