CHARMAINE Blackman’s new groovy Soca hit titled “Red Flag Man” is out this week with a strong warning to women especially, to stay alert and be aware of the early signs of abuse.

Written by Bonny Alves, the message seeks to help victims of domestic violence so that it becomes easier for them to “untangle themselves from the relationship.”

Blackman told Buzz this week that some of those early signs include poor anger management, verbal abuse, and “granding (mek attempt)” etcetera.

“We are bombarded with evidence of domestic violence and I find a lot of people don’t adhere to those early signs,” she observed, adding, “You get signs from early. People who are regularly abusive will show signs from the beginning and you have to be able to see through them, weigh and sift them.”

The singer further observed that seldom is there a situation where someone just gets up and murders a person out of the blue, hence the importance of heeding the warning signs early.

Reflecting on one of her own experiences, she recalled how she made a decision to immediately cut off association with a young man who behaved abusively.

“When I was young, a guy used to come for me at work. We were just talking. He came for me at work and followed me to the park to get transportation to go home. Something I said that he wasn’t pleased with and he was ready to hit me. I said, ‘Listen, don’t come back.’ The next night he came back thinking I was joking but I was serious. Those are early signs that you need to look at. It speaks volumes,” the veteran local songstress who is known for hits like ‘Gi dem mo fuh talk’, ‘Don’t disrespect meh’ and ‘Wuk or stay bruk’.

Meanwhile, while 2023 has been a very challenging year for Blackman, she said she managed to get through by God’s grace.
For 2024, she is hoping to produce two movies for which she has already been working on the scripts and two albums under the SSignal Productions banner.

“One of the albums will be a gospel with inspirational songs and the other will be of other songs in keeping with my branding,” she shared.

Furthermore, she will be mentoring two artistes for Calypso Monarch 2024 and will be involved with other disciplines during the upcoming Mashramani celebrations.

Blackman also plans to go on tour to Suriname, Barbados, Canada and the USA, as well as some of her favourite local destinations.