BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SOME admit that when they first heard the song they thought it was sung by an international artiste or maybe even one from the region and not the Federation. But ‘Whine for Me’, which has been receiving its fair share of airplay, is a homegrown product.
Nickhail Rogers, a lover of music, took a bold step for the Sugar Mas’ 40/40 festivities and threw his hat into the Soca Monarch bull ring as a contender in the groovy section of the competition with his ‘Whine on Me’ tune. And he has managed to advance with seven others to the finals which would be held tomorrow (Dec 23).
The self-written song, he explained to SKNVibes, speaks about a young man who, while at a party, sees a lady who peaks his interest. And after acknowledging that there is mutual attraction, “they basically meet each other and dance the night away”.
There are those who have to engage in complicated processes before they could complete putting the lyrics to a song together, but Nickhail said he just has to listen to the music and that would dictate what mood he would be in, which would in turn influence the topic of choice.
His career in music began at age 11 when he sang at his primary school graduation ceremony, and after a lull he resumed singing during his latter high school years with a group called One Side. Here again, he experienced another period of lull before trying his luck in the soca arena.
Asked about the impact his song has had on his listenership, Rogers explained, “One of the disc jockeys for Freedom FM was saying to me that he had an argument with someone and he was telling them that person can’t be from St. Kitts because of the quality of the song or the lyrics. And other people have said the same thing. They are surprised to hear the quality of the track, the lyrics the melody and so on. One of my co-workers heard the song on the radio and he also though it was someone overseas, not knowing that it was the Nickhail that he knows and works with.”
When Rogers learnt that he had made it to the finals of the Beaumont Park Monarch Finals, by his own admission, he was “shocked” because “there were certain shortcomings during the performance”.
But now that he has advanced, he said he would take maximum advantage of the opportunity and is planning on putting his best foot forward.
“I try not to focus on the other contenders. I try to focus on myself and on doing what I could do to impress and move the crowd which will be looking at me on the night. I am not going to worry about the other performers but, at the end of the day, it is about me and what I do on the stage to bring out the best in my song and relate to the song. I have something big planned for the finals. If it doesn’t happen, it would be because something happened with those involved. But yes, there is something planned.”
Win or lose, Rogers says he would be pursuing a musical career in the Caribbean region, in a genre which he described as “Caribbean pop”.
The Beaumont Park Soca Monarch Finals will be held at the Sugar Mill, Warner Park from 8:00 p.m.
Ten individuals will be competing in the Power segment and eight in the Groovy segment.
