SHE took everyone by surprise last year, when as a first timer at the competition, she won the Banks Calypso Monarch competition with her catchy song “Woman Is Boss”.

This year, school teacher Onikha Joseph, is hoping to defend her title with a number called “Side Chick”, and is confident that when it is all said and done, win or lose, her fans are going to love what they get.
“I don’t like to say that I’m going to win anything because it’s not good to underestimate anybody. You never know what the other competitors are coming with. What I can say, is that I will do my very best and I know it will be crowd pleaser,” Joseph humbly offered, in an exclusive interview with The Buzz earlier this week.

The mother of two will be coming up against 10 other finalists when she steps out on stage tonight, at the National Park. Joseph says she has been spending the past few weeks focusing on her preparation and not so much on the competition.
As for her entry, “Side Chick”, which speaks of a new social trend of women who get into relationships with married men, Joseph said that the song has proven to be even more popular than “Woman is Boss”.
Written by her manager, the famed Burchmore Simon of Kross Kolor Records, Joseph said that the song is one that has been in the works, ever-since her win was realised last year.
“We said we have to get another strong song to enter the competition again, and that was decided since last year. He, Simon, composed the song, recorded and played it to me, and the first time I heard the song I fell in love with it because I know that that’s a topic that everyone would relate to. What I find is both men and women are gravitating towards the song, a lot of people are reaching out to me,” Joseph said.

Since her win, Joseph has been enjoying her new-found fame, and has been honoured to have a number of requests come in for her to perform her empowering kaiso at several forums, particularly those focused on women.
“It has been a very good year for me. People gravitated towards me because they love the song “Woman is Boss”, and they love how it was delivered. Sometimes I go down the street and people would point me out and say look its “Woman is Boss” lady,” she laughed.
Joseph said it has been a fulfilling journey in an arena that she had only recently realised she had a talent for. Despite being a local singer since the 1990s, it wasn’t until about two years ago that being a calypso singer snuck up on her.
It was Simon that actually propelled her into the industry, after overhearing Joseph studio performance of another song “Dutty Story”.