LINDEN’s Brandon Harding gave an electrifying performance of his soca “Alone” at the National Park on Saturday night to successfully defend his title in the Carib Soca Monarch Competition, but only just after he finished a mere one point ahead of new- comer Stephen Ramphal.

After putting on a vibrant and crowd-pleasing performance at the late night into early morning event, Ramphal was rightly bestowed the $100,000 prize of “Best Newcomer” for an exhilarating performance of his piece, “Soca in Meh Vein.” His second-place finish came as no surprise and it was questioned by none.

Ramphal’s call during his performance for love, unity, and oneness among Guyanese as well as his fellow competitors was a nice touch and very well received.
Ramphal took the $750,000 second-place prize after amassing some 446.5 points, while Harding finished with 447.5 points, taking away the $1.5 million top prize.

The $500,000 third-place spot went to Linden’s Oxbert Cain, who goes by the stage name “Vintage”, performing his song “Soca King.”

For three-time champion Jumo “Rubber waist” Primo, however, when his performance was sized up against all the other acts of the night, he found himself left in fourth place. He garnered some 395 points among the judges

Though his song “Tribute” was no doubt one of the best of the night, he fell short in his delivery when it mattered the most; and despite appearances by the legendary Eze Rockcliffe and Kunchi TV’s “Miss Peppa” during his act, Jumo failed the hold the crowd throughout his performance as he closed off the show early Sunday morning.

The crowd was already very hyped up and animated when Jumo came out jumping in his Kurta outfit, supported by a number of vibrant back-up dancers. However, as the show progressed, some patrons seemed to have been expecting more.

The same could not be said however for what transpired when Harding stepped out. With a strong number of Lindeners in the crowd, Harding had the advantage, and he gave a performance fitting of the expectations that many had been having over the past few weeks as they waited to see if he was about to lose his crown to Jumo.

Harding’s suspenseful intro was made all the more grandiose when a light drizzle that started just after 02:15hrs stopped almost as if on cue when his music began to play.
Harding started out his performance sitting on a throne, as an intro played, giving a brief history of his journey as a singer beginning with his GTT Song and Jingle competition win in 2011, to becoming the soca monarch last year.

Decked out in red harem pants and matching waistcoat jacket, Harding also had a sizeable collection of back-up dancers coordinated in red outfits to accompany his performance. Harding was unafraid to call out his fellow competitors Jumo, Ernesta “Nesta” Nelson, and Melisa “Vanilla” Roberts during his performance, letting them know he was keeping his crown at least one year longer.

“Tell Jumo I say he get old and tonight I sending he home,” Harding belted out during his performance.

As he exited the stage, the crowd broke out into chants of “Brandon! Brandon!”
Nesta and Vanilla both gave pleasing performances, but failed to place this year, as it was yet another year where it was tough making it into the top four as the 15 performers of the night battled it out.
The show however was not short of a few rather uninspiring and at times down right laughable performances by some of the participants.