[UPDATED] $1m for Ultimate Soca Champion in reality TV-style competition

The Ultimate Soca Champion will win a prize of $1 million, one of its organisers Jerome “Rome” Precilla announced at a press conference at Queen’s Hall, Port of Spain, on January 17.

There will also be a competition for the Youth Soca Champion, with a prize of $200,000.

In a competition mirroring international reality-TV models, showcasing the background story of some of its competitors, the event will feature ten finalists and will include a mix of seasoned and novice performers. The prize structure will be a tiered, Rome said. The artistes will also receive a $50,000 performance fee.

The competition is expected to cost $8 million in total.

Rome and his partners including Lollabee’s Sheldon Stephen detailed the competition’s format as well as the importance of competition’s to the growth of TT’s music industry.

The government-backed event is being produced and hosted by Star Global Productions (SGP), a joint venture between the Lollabee Group, Jerome "Rome" Precilla, Adrian Chandler, Star Global Productions founder Rodney Seemungal and others.

Rome mirrored sentiments shared by National Carnival Commission (NCC) chairman Winston “Gypsy” Peters and Southex’s George Singh (founder of Chutney Soca Monarch) on the necessity of competitions.

He said, “I believe it is something that is needed for our culture and the soca industry. Competition brings out the best in artistes…”

While it is a competition, he said a key element of the show would be the reality TV component.

“As much as you would have a couple thousand people at the live event, we know there are way more viewers that look at this thing on television and streaming platforms than those who can actually attend the event,” he said.

Earlier this month, the group launched Carnival Catwalk – a reality fashion TV show which featured ten designers from around the world competing for $100,000.

Rome said while this had generated interest from international streaming groups like Netflix and Hulu, the group was “kicking open the door” and creating a space for TT’s music.

“We have had all those meetings already and we are in discussion with those networks. However, you have to dance a yaad, before you dance abroad, as the Jamaicans say.

“So we need to put on a show here that shows the international audience that we deserve to have a space on their platforms. But we are not looking for their approval. We are kicking open the door and creating our own space and that is what Pavilion Plus does.

“A lot of television productions have to wait to be greenlit by a big international streaming platform, with Pavilion Plus we greenlight our own projects. So we will be streaming internationally regardless if we get buy-in from those markets,” he said.

Rome said he was fortunate to visit the set of America’s Got Talent where he did market and technical research and met its executive producer, Simon Cowell.

“We have since made connections in Los Angeles with two consulting producers, one of whom worked on shows such as the Grammys, American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, BET Awards etc.

“There are two consulting producers who will be guiding us through this entire process to help us to package this thing properly for television consumption.”

The show’s registration will begin on January 20 with video submissions for regional and international artistes. These submissions close on January 26.

He said the video submissions were also for artistes who had performed in front of crowds of over 1,000 people. Three videos would be required.

The first video had to be a minimum of two minutes and the entry song could not be one publicly released before March 1 2024. The second video had to be one of the artiste performing in front of a large crowd and could be a YouTube link etc.

The third video had to be one of the artiste giving details of themselves along with the song’s name. The song entered in the competition could not be changed, he said. Artistes had one week to submit the videos.

In-person auditions will begin on January 25 from 9 am at San Fernando Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA).

“We have also invited the international soca artistes because our Carnival product has been exported globally.

“So we have soca champions all over the world, not only in the region. So they will all be invited to come participate in this competition to see who will be crowned the Ultimate Soca Champion,” Rome said.

The semifinals will be held on February 9 and the finals on February 20. The show’s live finals will be shown on CNC3, cable TV throughout the region and on Pavilion Plus internationally.

Rome said the backstories of the contestants would be shown as the organisers wanted people to “fall in love” with the artistes.

“Sometimes you see an artiste performing on a stage and you don’t know who they are, you don’t know where they are from. A man just show up and sing, ‘Throw your rag and your flag.’

“It is difficult to build your fanbase like that. So now we want to help the artiste build their fanbase by letting the crowd know who they are as a person, where you are from and you’d see all of the different elements of that.”

There will also be vocal and performance coaches for those who want the help. He did not name the coaches but said people should tune in to find out.

Rome said the Youth Soca Champion would fill a void for artistes between 16-15. There will be five finalists in this competition.

Rome said Star Global Productions would liaise with the TT Promoters Association to ensure these artistes get exposure in some of the bigger fetes.

There would be no power or groovy categories but special prizes for these as well as the People’s Champion based on public votes.

Rome said each contestant in the Ultimate Soca Champion competition must represent a community, example Arima, Sea Lots, and use a colour associated with each area.

The Ultimate Soca Champion will also perform at an international music festival as part of their prize. This was important to expose international audiences to soca, Rome said.

“There has been talk for years of how do we take soca international. How do we get soca as its own genre on streaming platforms and at the Grammys?

“Before I started traveling as a performer, I thought the audience they performed for at these stages were international audiences. When I started travelling, I realised a lot of the performances were really to the Caribbean diaspora and not to international audiences.”

He said international audiences still had not seen soca.

This story was originally published with the title "$1m for Ultimate Soca Champion" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

The Ultimate Soca Champion will win a prize of $1 million, one of its organisers Jerome “Rome” Precilla announced on January 17 at a press conference at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s Road, Port of Spain.

In a competition mirroring international reality TV models, it will showcase the background story of some of its competitors and will feature ten finalists as well as a mix of seasoned and novice performers.

Rome and his partners including Lollabee’s Sheldon Stephen detailed the competition’s format as well as the importance of competition’s to the growth of TT’s music industry.