Blaka Dan cops Ultimate Soca Champion title

GRENADIAN soca artiste Wrenroy “Blaka Dan” Ogiste says winning the first Ultimate Soca Champion competition is just the beginning of his journey.

In a post on Facebook, Blaka Dan thanked everyone for their support, including God, his family, his team, the government of Grenada, Spicemas Corporation, The National Lotteries Authority, Huggins and Trinidad and Tobago.

He said, “I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Ultimate Soca Champion competition for selecting me as the 2025 Ultimate Soca Champion. I was truly honoured to compete against such a talented group of soca artists, and to be officially recognised is an incredible achievement for myself and the team.

“The journey this competition has created for me is just about to begin, and I am excited more than ever to embrace it and grow along the way.”

The finals took place at the Queen’s Park Savannah on February 20 but the results were released over a week later on March 1.

Performing fourth in the line-up at the finals Blaka Dan beat ten other artistes with his hit Blessing, scoring 387 points and winning the grand prize of $1 million.

In second place was Akhenaton “Yung Bredda” Lewis with 376 points. He won $300,000 as well as $10,000, a mobile phone and free bmobile service for a year as the bmobile People’s Champion winner, which was based on a text-to-vote system.

Akeem "Preedy" Chance sang his way to third place to win $150,000 with Blaze Fire, and those in fourth to 11th place won $50,000. They include Ding Dong, Nailah Blackman, GI, Anika Berry, Cassell, Orlando Octave, Snakey and Dash.

Soca artiste Nkosi "Sucre" Scure was named the first ever Youth Soca Champion after he beat five other contestants in the junior category of the Ultimate Soca Champion, on February 20, for a $200,000 payday with his song, The Greatest.

The junior and Ultimate performers competed before judges Alison Hinds, Hypa Hoppa, Melissa Jimenez and Just J. The points were tallied by the judges and re-checked by officials at Ernst and Young to ensure there were no discrepancies.

Director of Ultimate Soca Champion Jerome “Rome” Precilla congratulated Blaka Dan and all of the finalists.

“He walked away with $1 million and we’re hoping this helps to craft his career and to propel soca music further on a global platform.”

He added that he was very proud of all the artistes who entered the competition.

“Looking back at their performances, they were spectacular. People brought their A-game. We saw theatrical performances, we saw great vocal performances, we saw some nice freestyles as well, so I’m proud of all the artistes.”

He thanked the team for their hard work in pulling off a great show in a short time frame. He appreciated the crowd and its enthusiasm and looked forward to a bigger competition next year.

“We hope that the other artistes who would have sat out this year to look on, that they enter next year and come be a part of it. And we invite all the champions from around the Caribbean region and the diaspora to enter and be a part of something amazing.”

He also thanked the Ministry of Tourism Culture and the Arts, the National Carnival Commission and all the sponsors for their continued support. He also invited other corporate sponsors to come on board next year.

The Ultimate Soca Champion filled the void the International Soca Monarch competition left in 2022, although Soca Champion was recorded and edited in the style of a reality TV show.

There were also some bumps in the programme when, before the semifinals on February 9, three contestants, Trinidad Killa, Iwer George and Trilla-G from Dominica withdrew from the competition.

Trinidad Killa withdrew on February 4 as he could not be physically present on the semifinal stage at Naparima Bowl, San Fernando, and virtual performances were not allowed in the competition. Second reserve Melick Baptiste took his place in the semifinals.

Iwer did not give a reason for his withdrawal, but Trilla-G returned to the competition to take his place.

There was also an issue with the wildcard spot for the finals, in which people had to vote on social media for their choice of artist. There was concern about suspicious activity or “fake votes” on the profiles of some contestants and the competition organisers announced they would “nullify the wildcard vote” and give the spots to the highest-scoring reserve contestants.