Hey Choppi: Now is time for love

About two months ago, if you’d asked Sean Padmore his expectations of the coming months, he might have said travel and performances outside of TT.

After all, the artiste, who performs as “Hey Choppi,” had one of the biggest releases in the past few months.

From the opening adulation-saturated lyrics “My gyal, you sweet like pineapple, yuh sweet like tangerine” to the call for reckless abandon with “throw me overboard, I don’t need no lifeguard,” Captain hit the right notes and had the best quotes to embed itself in the brains of soca lovers during the Carnival season.

The song was written by Crystal Tais, Hey Choppi, Clayton Wong, Jelani “Pops” Shaw and Machel Montano.

Hey Choppi’s long-term goal for Captain is that it will embed itself permanently, achieving the longevity of some of his favourite songs growing up, like another boat-themed classic, Atlantic’s All Aboard.

The long-term goal is possible and some might say probable, but instead of performing in other countries, Hey Choppi is spending his time at home, practising social distancing.

“The Carnival season for me was amazing. It was a wave. ...Which artiste wouldn’t want to be booked out and perform everywhere and enjoy their passion? I am very grateful,” the artiste said in an interview.

“My expectation was to travel, do the gigs outside of TT, explore, get to meet people and follow the process of where this leads to and where the song takes my career. I was working on my EP.

“The situation now is a lot of self-reflecting and just using this time to get deeper within me. I feel like certain situations we are placed into, we are in that situation to find that different versions of ourselves needed to move on to the next chapter. We don’t know what is next and that is not a comfortable feeling.”

Covid19 translates to a stymied export of soca performances to overseas markets. After an amazing season, one would expect Hey Choppi to be deeply disappointed. Instead he’s taken a more practical assessment of the situation.

While he isn’t immune to the anxiety and uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, he said his focus is on taking small steps every day.

“Every day of my life is always another day to dig deeper. At first, I was like, I have to maintain my sanity. It’s kind of surreal. We would learn about these things happening in the past, in history classes, and we are now actually living in one of those moments.

“This is affecting people mentally, emotionally and will leave scars beyond physical for a lot of people.

“I look at what I have control over and I try my best to calm down the anxiety and keep calm, for people around me and fans and people who talk to me. I have people who look up to me.

“Tomorrow we can wake up to news we didn’t expect and things might change. I am taking things one bite at a time, I am not trying to choke myself. I am considering my own feelings and giving myself my own respect. ”

During this period of self-isolation and social distancing, Hey Choppi spends his time resting, thinking, and giving himself over to his music when he feels like creating. Recently, his creativity led to a freestyle song which he posted on his Instagram account for the “quarantine lovers” who aren’t able to be together, capturing the zeitgeist for many.

“I am spending time creating. We are forced to be creative in a way we wouldn’t have been a month ago.

“If we weren’t in this situation I wouldn’t have done that quarantine song, the way I would. It was me giving fans something to smile about.”

“I create music whether I am sad or happy as a form of medicine for myself. I create initially for myself and in turn you give that to people. I want the best for myself so I create something real and when I give it to people, I give something healthy. Home-cooked food with love. They get to feel and relate and know it is real life.”

Hey Choppi’s real life right now is about introspection and he wanted to share this message with readers.

“I just want people at this time to take time for themselves. Don’t be afraid to look deep. When you feel lonely and at your worst, sit still and allow feelings to come and just accept it and dig deep and go beyond yourself. This is the time to vibrate higher and be better. Now is a time for love because that is all that can save us. I show that I love people by keeping myself inside. We stay inside for other people.”