Soca artiste Delroy “Fireman” Hooper remains “Ruler of the Land” in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, having placed his challengers in “Bad Company” Saturday night as he won his 13th soca monarch crown.
Fireman demonstrated his oversized influence on soca lovers and his dominance of the stage as he performed at Victoria Park.
He has become the first artiste to win the EC$60,000 first prize in the competition, following the revision in prizes announced by the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC) in June.
The artiste will take home EC$60,000 in cash.
Previously the CDC gave the first prize winner EC$25,000 in cash and a vehicle such as a Suzuki Swift.
The MC, Shevrel “Candyman” McMillan, apparently in the excitement of the announcement, did not mention the number of points that Fireman scored on his way to retaining the title.
Second place went to Derron “Magikal” Rouse, a former monarch, whose “Fully” generated 222 points.
Magikal also secured a cash prize of EC$30,000.
Jahlil “Vyper” Williams and Klyvert “KTB” Browne were third, singing “Side Man”, which generated 217 points, just one less than Ozarie Matthews scored with “Front Teeth” to bite into the fourth position.
The third-place winners get $15,000 while the fourth place takes home EC$10,000.
This year’s show featured several young acts as veterans continue to stay away from the show whose attendance continues to decline.
Of note, Sherwin “Fry Yiy” Miller, with his popular “Leave the Liquor”, robbed himself of any opportunity that he had to make it to the top four when he sang his song offkey.
Fireman also appeared to have been off-key during the earlier parts of his song, but returned to the correct notes shortly after, making up for any markdown with his presentation and in other areas of the criteria.
Supplanter Jay-R dethroned
Meanwhile, in the Ragga Soca segment of the show, Javid “Jay-R” Rouse, who supplanted the throne in 2023, found himself in a fourth-position tie along with the duo Claydon “Dymez” Roache and Elrico “Da Pixel” Hunte.
Jay-R sang ??? while Dymez and Da Pixel sang “Rub ah Dub”.
However, unlike last year, when the artiste would have been left empty-handed, this year, as part of a review of prizes, the CDC has allocated EC$7,500 to the fourth-place winner.
Hance John, a veteran, returned to the throne, which he lost in 2022 to Fireman.
He scored a “Spectacular” 233 points with the song that saw business executive Jean Johnny-Findlay and former culture minister Rene Baptiste paraded on stage and sashed as spectacular women.
However, in his exuberance, Hance incorrectly referred to Baptiste as “the first and only” woman to be elected to Parliament.
For his performance, Hance takes home EC$30,000 — EC$5,000 more than last year’s winner, as part of CDC’s increased prizes this year.
Utamu “Bongo Prime” Rose scored 220 points with “Special Invitation” to win second place and EC$15,000 in cash.
Keep the population occupied with all types of non sense so they don’t notice the real issues. Backward ever forward never.