Guyana’s new Soca Monarch is a gospel artiste.
Samuel Medas, one of the more prominent gospel artistes in the Caribbean, walked away with the 2021 title at the competition’s virtual finals last weekend.
Medas won with his song ‘Stadium’ which has been a favourite since its release.
This was Medas’ first time entering the competition.
Dressed in a white and gold suit he urged people to shake off their stress and celebrate anywhere as if they are in the stadium.
Medas told Loop News he had three reasons for entering.
“One, I feel like some people become celebrities in the church and we forget the real work is outside. I was led by the Lord, I wouldn’t have entered otherwise,” he said.
Guyana’s new Soca Monarch is a gospel artiste.
Samuel Medas, one of the more prominent gospel artistes in the Caribbean, walked away with the 2021 title at the competition’s virtual finals last weekend.
Medas won with his song ‘Stadium’ which has been a favourite since its release.
This was Medas’ first time entering the competition.
Dressed in a white and gold suit he urged people to shake off their stress and celebrate anywhere as if they are in the stadium.
Medas told Loop News he had three reasons for entering.
“One, I feel like some people become celebrities in the church and we forget the real work is outside. I was led by the Lord, I wouldn’t have entered otherwise,” he said.
He said secondly he wanted to deliver two messages.
He said while everyone felt ‘Stadium’ is a song about a release from being cooped up at home, it actually spoke to Guyana’s racial climate. During his performance, he called for unity.
“Stadium is a lifestyle, it is the one place you go where nobody don’t care who rich or who poor, nobody don’t know who is who,” he explained.
He said the song was also about urging people to remember no matter what happens God is in charge.
“Last year when COVID hit I was touring and I got stuck overseas for four months, I saw people die. I want people to know, that no matter what happens, God’s plans remain.”
During his performance, he spoke about people he lost during the pandemic and told viewers if they lost their jobs or loved ones that God sent him to Soca Monarch to give them one message. “Alright, alright, alright, alright, you will be alright,” he sang.
Medas, who won the Gospel Music Awards of Trinidad and Tobago Regional Artist of the Year Award in 2019 and 2020, said he also entered to lift the standard of music in the competition.
Despite his reasons for entering and the popularity of the song, Medas said he was blown away when he won but he will not defend the title.
“My mission wasn’t to flex for anybody. I am already on to the next thing. I wanted to inspire anyone who has been dreaming and thinking they can’t be a part of this because they don’t fit in with what anyone else is doing,” said Medas, who dropped a new song this week called “When You Respond”.
Asked if he thinks his success will influence other gospel artistes to seek audiences outside of the church, Medas said this is bigger than Soca Monarch.
“You don’t shine the light where already has a light, you have to go where darkness is,” he said, noting that his entrance into the competition was met with condemnation by the church in Guyana and around the region.
In Guyana, the Soca Monarch and Chutney Soca Monarch competitions are tied to Mashramani, the country’s commemoration of becoming a republic on February 23, 1970. The country’s Carnival, which started in 2016, is held in May.
“There was a lot of push back in the church. After I won a lot of people had things to say. People are familiar with Soca Monarch in the context of Carnival where there is a lot of drinking and wining so the church was brutal, I almost regretted it but after I got off stage some people said they were against it but they realised I had a message,” he said.
Medas, son of a pastor, launched his solo singing career in 2012 and has since grown to become a notable name on the gospel music circuit.
He is known for reggae and soca-inspired songs such as “Overflow”, “Can’t be the Only One”, “Royalty” and “Move”.
Medas is a brand ambassador for Digicel Guyana and Fruta.
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