Mess-tra at Beach J'ouvert

A lot of things were happening at Beach J'ouvert last weekend except Destra. As the headline act, Destra failed to deliver. Since Trinidad Carnival, Destra seemed to have lost her zeal. Can you say boring? And not only was she boring but chatty; she sang for a total of 15 minutes and spoke for 50 minutes. Between the endless wining competitions, her constant reaffirmations and senseless banter, I was near sleep...*yawn*.

In no way are my comments coming from a malicious place. In fact, I may be one of Destra's biggest fans coming from her days in Roy Cape. I mean I even have sections of my thesis dedicated to her; I've done presentations on Destra at 2 academic conferences and written a journal article about her development as an artiste. I've rated Destra as one of the of soca artiste of my generation; not just as a female artiste but a legit soca artiste. So when I crtitique her performance style, it's more of concern that insults. Destra has the complete package- a great voice, an amazing look and quality songs so in my opinion there's no excuse for her to pass off this mess as a show.

Apparently, she didn't get the love in T&T so she came to Jamaica to feed her ego- "I know you guys love me"; "Jamaica has the biggest Destra fans"; "Do you like my body; let me give you a better view"; "I'm gonna have an orgasm tonight"; "Do you wanna have sex with me?"...Just sing yuh damn songs!

Surpringly TC saved this show for me. Although the crowd didn't know the songs, he was clear with a good voice and no ole talk. Probably Destra needs to add some other performers to her set because I could only conclude that she's tired.

Overall Beach J'ouvert did not live up my expectations...I found Private Ryan to be on point with the selections but DJ Bambino with his constant talking just killed the music. What's up with Bambino? Yuh chat too damn much! Again, Bacchanal needs to go back to the drawing board with this one....

Mess-tra at the Soca Monarch Semis

Who knew the Soca Monarch semis would have attracted so many fans especially since CNC decided to broadcast the Grammy awards instead of the bigggest show to hit Arima. I didn't watch the entire show because the power 106 stream was not the best and the show was extremely long but I was grateful for the little I could catch...I was also able to catch some of the rebroadcast on CNC the following day. My Mom is right when she says that competition always brings out the worst in people and boy did it bring out the worst in Destra. But her behaviour should not surprise us since we've always heard about incidents where her true colours came out...(the 2004 incident with Denise belfon and the cursing incident at the trini posse fete). What I don't understand is that Ms. garcia swore that she would never enter the competition since the judges "cheated" her the last time she entered, but that $2 million dollars could make a dent in her daughter's college fund. It is clear that Destra has too much ego for a competition since she is completely unaware that there are artistes who are better performers or who have better songs than her. Her performance was lukewarm; again she depended too much much on the hype and glamour and too little on singing the damn song. Destra needed to stop talking all that crap about Machel and Faye Ann and perform. It seemed that she was frustrated that she could not get the same reaction that Faye Ann and Bunji got and resorted to low blows. And what was the deal with her trying to ad lib on stage??? fail!

Now on to a real performer, Ms. Lyons; dressed in a black tank top and pants, the only prop she had was her sneakers! No frills, no fuss, she just sang "Consider it done" and let the crowd do the rest for her. Bunji was also able to mash up the velodrome with a simple performance focusing on lyrics and vocal skill. Now the man to watch out for is the Boss; I am not a fan of Iwer George but Iwer has Soca Monarch experience and has his followers, and I have to admit that "Come to meh" is one of his best songs to date. In my opinion, Destra cannot be considered a serious entrant compared to these 3.


Mr Machel did give an okay performance but like Destra, he had to try too hard to get the crowd hyped. At first I didn't think Soca Monarch would be a problem for the HD but the Soca Monarch crowd is not a One fete crowd or a Tribe Ignite crowd; I don't think that it's going to be easy for him no matter how many props he brings on on the night. Faye Ann, Bunji and Iwer all have Soca Monarch experience which Machel lacks as a competitor. The three have their die hard supporters and they know what the crowd and judges want. Backing tracks, lip syncing, and sexy dancers would only get you so far.


My picks for the finals are Faye Ann, Bunji and Iwer for Power Monarch, and Kes, Kerwin Du Bois and Shurwayne or Destra for Groovy.


And I just heard it's about TT$680 or something like that for the platinum section! I don't know about that! But since Machel in the Soca Monarch, there are a lot of people who would never even consider this event on their Carnival Friday line up and would go platinum....I admit, I have not been to SM since 1997...mostly because I could not handle the roughness but I always enjoyed watching the broadcast.... but this year the competition is fierce and I want to be there...

The soca monarch image and list of finalists can be found on the official soca monarch website.

Where was Destra?

I have been a Destra fan for a very long time. I remember when I first saw her perform Tremble it at a Spektakula show I attended with my family. Days later my brother could not stop talking about how good she looked in the nude body suit she wore and that he was in love. Since that night, I've looked forward to seeing her perform at my favourite fetes. Even when there were reports of her "diva" attitude throughout the years, I still remained loyal to my Dee. I felt that her songs offered more than the typical jump and wave but they were more about the emotions and passion that we all attach to carnival. I was proud when I came to Jamaica and saw how much they worshipped her.

Last year, I saw her perform twice and was very disappointed to see that there was a lot of lip syncing involved in her set. There was a clear change in her style to incorporate more of the "Beyonce type" dancing and singing which I did not appreciate since I believed she did not need those antics. What happened to days where artistes just focused on delivering their songs? I know that you are doing a show but never forget the primary focus should be your songs.

I know that it's difficult for women in the soca industry especially those who are wives and mothers. Male artistes just like other men in society are not subjected to the double burden of a career and a family. Destra made a huge sacrifice to her income when she took time off to have her daughter. So I understand the need for her to get back into the game as soon as possible.

Last night everyone was excited to see the return of their carnival diva. After a performance by Busy Signal (big steups), Destra came on the stage in one of her usual leotard type outfits which looked pretty good. She also had on some serious heels which I initially felt contributed to her energy lacking performance to the first couple of songs. She then went backstage to change into her Dereon boots (I guess that Beyonce is really one of her role models) and I expected a change in the pace of the performance...there was no change. It's the same performance I've been seeing for the last 3 years minus the energy...dutty wining and all...can you say yawn? If I ever have to see the bit that she does to I dare you ever again..... She calls a groups of guys and girls on the stage and asks them to demonstrate their best wine and then they wine one each other and the crowd decides which pair was the best yada yada yada....Moving on....since Denise Belfon and Alison Hinds weren't there, she wanted some volunteers to help her sing Obsessive winers...guess what? no volunteers after much begging and pleading. And I also need to mention the mini destras whose dancing I guess was supposed to give the set some kind of excitement. After about 3-4 costume changes...it became a distraction...bigger yawn.

But all was not bad because Destra did get support from her loyal fans especially when she gave them their favourites:Tremble it , Rag in de Air, Max it up, It's Carnival and Bacchanal. These last 2 songs were really the highlights of the performance and I did sweat a little at that point. She also performed for over an hour so the patrons got their money's worth.

I am not going to agree with persons who say, "It wasn't that bad, remember she just had a baby". She is in a profession where people are paying money to see her perform (and sing) so you need to ensure that what you put out is top notch. I am not trying to be unsympathetic but if you are not ready for the stage, take some more time off and perfect your craft. If you cannot give the audience the same fast paced performance then change your entire style; give us something new...reinvent yourself. Please don't use pregnancy as an excuse...it's not an illness...it's just a new phase of life..I'm not sure how empowering that statement is :)

Congrats to Destra!!!!

A big shout out to the Queen of Soca, Destra Garcia who gave birth to her healthy daughter, Xaiya on Thursday. This picture was published in the Trinidad Guardian; she already looks like her Mummy!

The Jamaica Gleaner reported today that Destra and Atlantik will be performing for Bacchanal Jamaica so Destra I hope that you are taking it easy and please don't rush to get back to the stage...take time, your fans will be waiting....