Patrice, Alison deliver fun virtual showdown

IT was a night of fun, camaraderie and soca as Alison Hinds and Patrice Roberts paired song against song from their wide discography in Digicel’s Showdown on Wednesday.

The Showdown utilised a format similar to the American webcast series Verzuz pairing singers of like genre and styles together.

The virtual show drew a viewership of over 248,000 people locally, region and internationally. On Digicel’s Facebook page, the virtual show got 88,000 comments and 12,000 reactions.

Fans of both singers quickly dropped flags, flames and comments for their respective singers but at the end of it all the true winner was the show of Caribbean unity and love.

Hinds and Roberts ran through their playlists in the ten-round showdown. Hinds pulled from her Square One Years singing hits like Fulma; Aye, Aye, Aye; Roll It Gal and Iron Bazodee among others. Roberts' sang Sweet Fuh Days, Carry On, The Islands and Old and Grey among others.

People were logged on and waiting before the show’s 8 pm start with 729 online and this climbed steadily throughout the 90-minute show. In the comments section they sent words of support to their favourite artiste. One of Roberts’ supporters said, “Patrice baby I’m with you.”

The much-anticipated show began with each artiste in the first round singing their breakthrough song. Hinds began by explaining the song earned her the title of becoming the first woman to win Road March in Barbados. As she sang Raggamuffin, flames and Barbados’ flags flooded the comment sections. Hinds was backed by Andre “DJ Puffy” Parris.

Roberts’ breakthrough song, The Islands featuring Bunji Garlin, drew a similar response from the online audience. The artistes were at Hilton Barbados Resort and Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre respectively. The flashing backdrops and Hinds and Roberts being able to communicate with each other in real time gave the feeling of being in a physical fete with the two artistes singing song after song.

Unlike other virtual shows, Digicel’s Showdown was seamless. There were no stops nor loss of connectivity at any time.

The singers took fans down memory lane with songs in categories such as groovy classic, classic power, bubble tune (groovy), bubble tune (power), versatility, male collab, female collab, ladies anthem and thing 4d road.

Viewers from Montserrat, Atlanta, Jamaica, TT, Barbados, and many other countries and spaces showed their support for the artistes.

What would a virtual show be without banter? Some fans felt in the Groovy classic category that Roberts could not compete with Hinds as she sang the much loved Iron Bazodee, done during her years with the Square One band. Before singing it she explained that the song was written with TT in mind and was released in TT.

“This song just took right off,” she said.

Instantly, the flames appeared in the comments section with some people recalling where they had partied to the song.

Roberts’ response was Wukkin Up.

She told Hinds that the song was also written by Barbadian musician, producer and songwriter Terry “Mexican” Arthur because she was inspired by Hinds. Arthur also wrote Iron Bazodee.

“I went to Barbados and I said, ‘Hey, I kind of like how Alison Hinds does sound so kind of make it a mix of Patrice Roberts and Alison Hinds…”

Hinds and Roberts paid each other compliments throughout the event with Roberts telling Hinds that she was her idol and she chose songs because of her.

Hinds also premiered the video for her 2020 song West Indian during the show.

For her, Wednesday’s show was “so much fun.”

Hinds said she had a blast and so did all of the viewers.

She enjoyed the camaraderie between herself and Roberts.

“I guess she also got to express some stuff that she wanted to say to me and I to her,” she said in a phone interview with Newsday.

Hinds said that Showdown’s format is open and is not limited to just one person. “There is always the opportunity to do more or be paired up with somebody else or have other artistes have a showdown.”

Hinds said the region has the talent, the numbers and as long as there is sponsorship Showdown could be something that could become the region’s own thing.

As the show wrapped up at around 9.30 pm, viewers already began suggesting the pair for the next Showdown. Some suggested a Machel Montano, Bunji Garlin Showdown.

Tell us who you think should be paired in the next Showdown.