Reon “Maddzart” Primus’ reign as calypso monarch ended Sunday night without a third “shift” as Chanique Rogers-Bailey won the crown on her first attempt.
Rogers-Bailey, singing “Lift Me Up”, a political commentary, outdid Maddzart and the 10 other contenders, including four former monarchs, to win at Demanche Gras at Independence Park in Kingstown.
Rogers-Bailey dethroned Maddzart more than two decades after she considered him to have given her first big break as a vocalist.
However, it was not only Rogers-Bailey who outdid Maddzart with his political commentary, “Shift System”, also known as “Behave Yuhself”, which was loaded with double entendre.
The defending monarch did not feature among the top four in the competition, with second place going to Robert “Patches” King, who has reached the top positions on multiple occasions, even as the crown continues to elude him.
King sang “Bull Wood”, a warning to the Prime Minister Godwin Friday and his government that the artiste stands ready to punish them — despite his support for the ruling party — if they do not do right by the people.
Third place went to Shaunelle McKenzie, a former monarch, who, despite her powerful voice, might have benefited from a second take of the song after she had to restart due to an issue unrelated to her singing.
The former monarch continued to play it safe, avoiding hard-hitting political commentary, even as her rendition of “At We Doorstep” touched on the actions of the United States in the Caribbean, in what she said was one of her more explicit political commentaries.
Fourth place went to another former monarch, Lornette “Fya Empress” Nedd, whose “De Search” was a commentary about the disparity between what women look for when dating versus what they expect in a relationship.
The prominence of women in the top positions demonstrated their dominance in the competition, with three male first-timers making it to the finals.
Kemmy Christopher returned to the genre after more than 20 years, having started in calypso at age 8, when he competed in the junior category.
The US-based bard has competed in the soca monarch competition in previous years and sang “Hope” in this year’s calypso competition.
Utamo “Bongo Prime” Rose, a former Ragga Soca Monarch, made it to the finals of the calypso competition on his first attempt at the genre. He sang “The Messenger”.
However, the first completely new entrant to singing competitions to make it to the finals on their first attempt was Kenley “Lyrical Melody” Baptiste, who sang, “I Am A Vincy”.
The two other former monarchs to make it to the finals were Kenneth “Vibrating Scakes” Alleyne, who sang “Havana” and Grantley “Ipa” Constance, who earned his place with his rendition of “My Party Lose”.
The other competition was between Shena Collis, who sang “New Chef in the Kitchen,” and Cecile “Lil Bit” King, who sang “Liberation Year”.
In a Facebook post, Rogers-Bailey paid tribute to her team, which included her husband, musician and arranger Adrian Bailey, but dedicated the crown to her late mother.
“When I entered this competition, I made one promise that if I won this title, I would dedicate it to my mom, my biggest supporter, who lost her battle with cancer last year. Today, with a full heart, I proudly keep that promise,” Rogers-Bailey wrote on the social media platform.
She said that a few hours before she walked onto the stage, her sister sent her a message “that settled my spirit and reminded me exactly why I was there”.
Among other things, Rogers-Bailey’s sister told her:
“When you think of mommy today and I know you are, think about how excited she is to see you do this. Think about how proud, affirming and completely satisfied she is with this huge accomplishment. Let those thoughts EMPOWER you because if she taught us anything, it was how to be strong.”
Rogers-Bailey said she read her sister’s message over and over.
“MAMA, THIS CROWN IS FOR YOU!” the newly crowned calypso monarch said.
“To everyone who embraced my song, believed in my message, and stood with me throughout my very first Calypso Monarch journey, thank you from the bottom of my heart,” she further stated.
Meanwhile, Maddzart celebrated Rogers-Bailey’s victory, saying that as he embraced the tearful winner on stage after her crowning, she told him, “Thank you for giving me my start.”
He said that he remembered that when Rogers-Bailey told him earlier in the competition that she was coming for his crown, he jokingly responded that they were at his business place in Prospect.
Maddzart said he also recalled when Rogers-Bailey said in an interview that she was pursuing the crown in tribute to her late mother, who had also become one of his friends.
He, however, said that the first thing that came to his mind was that he did not think that he was responsible for Rogers-Bailey’s start because she was a singer “before I even granted you that opportunity”.
Maddzart then recounted that in 2000, he and a friend randomly invited young passersby to join a choir for the national Christmas Carolling competition.
“We wanted a female singer to lead us in the singing of the traditional carol ‘Once Upon a Christmas’ and Peter mentioned and brought Chanique to join our choir that we had decided to call ‘The Quarelling Carolers’,” Maddzart said.
He said that the choir grew to more than 100 people, most of whom he had not known before and with Rogers-Bailey as the lead vocalist, they placed second.
“But while she may consider that her start, maybe it was her first time singing to so much people (and those were the days when caroling contest use to ram out) I still think her start was long before I met her,” he said.
“Congrats again chanique. We go fight up next year. If ah in the mood,” Maddzart wrote, ending his post with a laughing emoji.