–says Joelly Valentine

TWENTY-three-year-old Joelly Valentine knows she’s just one person, but she hopes that she can use her voice to inspire others, and in her goosebumps-inducing performance of her original song, “One Voice”, she said as much.
The song was writen by Joelly in just one day, as she sat down trying to put her thoughts together and come up with something to take to the Miss Guyana World talent segment.
“I was inspired by the Miss World Guyana journey I had embarked on. I wanted to give a piece of myself to the world, and I wanted the message to reflect my true emotions at that point in my life,” she said.

“I wrote the song within five to seven minutes during the month of May. My emotions made the flow easy,” the Mahaicony native told The Buzz.
“’One Voice’ is about a person making a decision to do something to make the world better by first questioning their own motives and contributions, and encouraging others to join the movement to create an ideal world for us all,” Joelly added.
The song asks, “What is my story? Do I walk my talk?” And the simple answer is:
“I am just one man, but I can move a mountain; just one voice, but one voice can make a difference.”

Even if the song doesn’t make you sit up and do some soul searching, hearing Joelly perform it makes you sit up and realise that this young lady has some serious chops; a beautiful voice for one pretty young lady.
The piece was produced by DP Records, headed by Darrell Pugsley, the man who put the music to the words. He was even instrumental in helping Joelly come up with a name for the song.

But “One Voice” isn’t the first song that the University of Guyana undergrad has ever written; it, however, marks a turning point in her life, in terms of giving some serious thought to a possible career in the music and song writing industry.
Writing poetry since she was six years old, Joelly just always knew that she was meant to be artistic. But it wasn’t until she was around eight that she first began singing publicly; song-writing would come naturally some time later during her teen years.
But it took entering in the Miss World Guyana pageant earlier this year for her to decide that it was now or never.

After launching the song on 98.1FM on June 7, Joelly gave an angelic performance when she did the piece for her MWG Talent Night contribution at the Tower Suites poolside, fittingly decked out in a two-piece Randy Madray ensemble.
“I really didn’t consider myself a singer until now,” remarked the former Mahaicony Secondary School student.
“I would just sing in church every other Sunday. I sang in school whenever we had special occasions, and once I sang back-up in a Calypso performance for a Mash costume competition.

“At the beginning of my MWG journey, I felt inspired to write and sing, so I called Darrell and told him what my plans were.”
Though she did not win the Miss World Guyana pageant, Joelly has already shaken that off, and has been off promoting the song since she released it earlier last month. And, of course, the reviews have been rave.
“I’ve received an influx of positive messages and calls. Kids recognise me easily and call out to me, or point me out to their parents,” she said, adding:
“I’ve witnessed people cry when they listen to it. Whenever I go home, people ask me to sing. And I do.”