Mical Teja finds strength in God during pandemic

“TIMES getting dread, have to keep your head up high.”

As many experience gloom and anxiety amid the covid19 pandemic, Mical “Teja” Williams is relying on the strength of God and is encouraging others to do the same.

Williams released his newest single, Strength of God, on March 30 – much different from his typical soca songs. It can be found on YouTube and streaming platforms such as Apple Music, TIDAL and Spotify.

It was written and produced by Williams, with live bass by Gideon Bishop and mixing and mastering (fine-tuning for commercial use) were done by Kevin “Vexmoney” Beharry.

Its opening line summarises the song well, “By the strength of God, not the strength of man, we go make it out of this.”

Williams has been singing soca for over three years and also does a lot of music production and songwriting.

He has worked on hits such as Waves by Machel Montano, Bodyline by Olatunji Yearwood – which wowed judges at the international competition X Factor – and Kes and Nailah Blackman’s Workout.

In 2019, he produced the Want riddim which also featured Patrice Roberts and Olatunji. He also wrote Viking Ding Dong’s 2020 hit We Outside.

Some of his original songs include Self Approved, Calling, First Place featuring Preedy, Practice, and Bumper Murderer with Kerwin Du Bois. He even made it to the finals of the 2020 International Soca Monarch.

He told Newsday he was raised with a “church background,” and was glad he finally took the time to do a song like this.

“Overall, the song really does mean a lot to me because I’m someone who has a very strong faith, and just being able to pull away a little bit away from the ‘wine and jam and put your hand in the air’ to doing some more spiritual music means a lot to me. As an artiste, you wanna be able to represent yourself in all aspects.

“I always wanted to do something gospel, something godly and the time just aligned itself for me to do it.”

He believes many people feel “disconnected” and he wished to enlighten them and remind them there is still hope.

The song also addresses issues such as poverty and violence and encourages people to do the “right” thing.

“It’s just a song to tell people to trust in the father, have some faith and in due time things will get better.

It seemed to resonate well with the public, receiving comments like, “That’s why I love soca…the variety of rhythm and beats they get could put forward any message as long as it comes from yuh heart.... This is a rel nice song, it different.” And, “This song is calming! In times like this, I felt this song on a different level.”

Others expressed how it was helping them during this time, which was exactly what Williams’ aim was.