21 Mar Top 20 Trini Soca Stars to follow on Twitter
While everyone else was quarrelling about Soca Monarch on Facebook or in someone’s living room on Carnival Friday, the real action was going on Twitter, where fans and non-fans alike were dissecting every moment of the competition. The real event of note, though, was the fact that people like Machel Montano, Destra Garcia, Bunji Garlin, Shurwayne Winchester and Iwer George became worldwide trend topics on Twitter that night.
Within the last year, there’s been a definite increase in the number of local celebs who are actively using the micro-blogging network. These days, you’ll find Machel regularly tweeting from his Blackberry, which he also used to throw some ‘friendly’ picong at Destra after the semifinals, or Fayann Lyons tweeting about cooking lunch for her hubby Bunji, and, on a night like Soca Monarch, giving her take on all the picong and responding to tweets, positive and negative, full throttle. Now that Carnival 2011 is over, and still I’m seeing Facebook statuses, tweets and BBMs from some of you who are still trying to overcome post-Carnival depression, I figured that some of you would be more than interested in seeing what your favourite Soca stars are up to, before it’s reported in the daily newspaper.
Yeah we know they’re travelling the globe, performing at other events, and trying to come up with another sweet track for next year Carnival, but if you want to know their day-in, day-out activities, right up the next season, Twitter is a good place to check them out (because, let’s face it, the Twitter experience is much more personal, with you getting to have a one-on-one conversation with artistes).
When I asked fellow tweeters who were some of their fave celebs on Twitter, Machel, Bunju, Fayann, Destra, and Maximus Dan were mentioned numerous times. So here’s a list of Soca stars, who were highly visible for the Carnival scene for 2011, along with some up n comers, and even a few you may not have heard from lately, in order of the largest number of followers. Of course, when they joined, and how active they are, also affects their ‘following’. These numbers were taken on Sunday March 20, 2011.
1. Machel Montano; @machelmontanohd
No. of followers: 17,503
Joined Twitter: May 21, 2010
Sample tweet: “They need to fix this waiting to cross the stage tradition now! Is a real kill joy!”
2. Destra Garcia; @DestraGarcia
No. of followers: 6,686
Joined Twitter: March 19, 2009
Sample tweet: “@Quweina no Q I’m fasting. I’ve been doin it for the past 18yrs. During lent. For spiritual reasons. N I never loose weight.”
3. BunjiGarlin; @bunjigarlin
No. of followers: 5,121
Joined Twitter: April 18, 2009
Sample tweet: “As an adult if you into cartoons get “Ninja Scroll” the whole series collection. It baaaaaaddddd.”
4. Fayann Lyons; @fayannlyons
No. of followers: 4,183
Joined Twitter: July 11, 2009
Sample tweet: “Sooo gooood mornin ppl. .sunday lunch menu baked chicken with stuffed baked potatoes…eat well everybody most import. Family…”
5. Kes the Band; @kestheband
No. of followers: 3,984
Joined Twitter: June 17, 2009
Sample tweet: “Gearing up for SHOWTIME at the Return Concert in Toronto!”
6. Lil Bitts; @lilbitts
No. of followers: 2,467
Joined Twitter: March 9, 2009
Sample tweet: “I wanna get the chance to perform on @106andpark chups! Holla at me Rocsi and Terrence let me represent for my island Trinidad and Tobago”.
7. Nadia Batson; @nadieb
No. of followers: 2,101
Joined Twitter: March 22, 2009
Sample tweet: “On d plane…heading to Toronto…#Returnfete.”
8. Shal Marshall; @shalmarshall
No. of followers: 1,419
Joined Twitter: March 10, 2009
Sample tweet: “Thanks to all my peeps, drop ya madd!!”
9. Shurwayne Winchester; @Shurwayne
No. of followers: 1,394
Joined Twitter: April 26, 2009
Sample tweet: Tobago I’m coming (thank God) ill call yuh name when I dive into that deep blue clear sea water.
10. MistaVybe; @mistavybe
No. of followers: 1,353
Joined Twitter: March 17, 2009
Sample tweet: “1st task for today: Improving my sound engineering skills ? <— *starts #LogicPro9 tutorial video* #DreamLabStudios LEGGGOOO!!!”
11. Superjigga TC; @superjiggatc
No. of followers: 1,254
Joined Twitter: April 12, 2009
Sample tweet: “Damm y I’m I looking @ murder in the hampton with my mom and not bbc news.”
12. David Rudder; @DavidRudder
No. of followers: 1,001
Joined Twitter: February 23, 2010
Sample tweet: “I am out for the evening people – if you see any more tweets, it is probably my son Isaac! One Love and thanks for your eternal support!”
13. Umi Marcano; @UmiWorld
No. of followers: 987
Joined Twitter: March 9, 2009
Sample tweet: “I just waitin to see wah bunji going To say!!”
14. Farmer Nappy; @1FarmerNappy
No. of followers: 965
Joined Twitter: August 18, 2010
Sample tweet: “Ah ent get in d final! Yuh have to leave room for disappointment. We still takin d 2 million tho! Stamp on it! Stamp on it!”
15. Maximus Dan; @mxprime1
No. of followers: 942
Joined Twitter: June 19, 2009
Sample tweet: “This is the time where i call on all producers /artistes to keep releasing music constantly, Carnival is a season, not the music.”
16. Knycky Cordner; @kyncky
No. of followers: 914
Joined Twitter: April 24, 2009
Sample tweet: “P.S I wasn’t tweeting & driving. I’m home safe. Thank you God.”
17. Devon Matthews; @devonhp
No. of followers: 527
Joined Twitter: April 28, 2009
Sample tweet: “Gyro or doubles? Give me doubles.”
18. Iwer George; @IwerG
Number of followers: 429
Joined Twitter: Feb 15, 2011
Sample tweet: “I’m now looking @ my performance @ the Soca Monarch… Lol… OMG. Nuff Love to my props. Look @ d jab jab. It madddd. Most memorable”
19. Kerwin Du Bois; @1kerwindubois
No. of followers: 416
Joined Twitter: October 26, 2010
Sample tweet: “The work never stops and ah feelin blessed!”
20. Patrice Roberts; @patsyboop
No. of followers: 351
Joined Twitter: May 23, 2010
Sample tweet: “In the studio recording!!!! Tune badddddddddd sell off!!! yayyyyyyy!!! Feel like hugging someone!! I’m so happy.”
Couldn’t leave out number…
21. Jason Williams aka JW; @Trini_JW
No. of followers: 343
Joined Twitter: February 1, 2011
Sample Tweet: “Arsenal all d way… Barca fans i find all yuh eh talking at all.”
And I couldn’t leave out…
22. Ravi B; @RaviBKarma
No. of followers: 82
Joined Twitter: October 3, 2009
Sample tweet: “To all my fans, thank u for ur huge support at this time. Today, join me on 96.1FM at 11 am, my first interview since the incident.”
So there it is folks, the top 20 Soca stars on Twitter. Doh beat me if you eh see your fave established or up-n-coming star here. Just add their link in the comments.
Check out the rest of this week’s issue (21/3/11; Issue 49):
- Marisa Albert: Take it to the Cleaners
- 5 Ways You Can Still Lime when You’re Broke
- The Trinbagonian Mentality: We Like it So
- Frienemies: Why do We Keep them Around?
- Incest: Living with a Secret
Look out for a new issue of Outlish.com every Monday!
Karel Mc Intosh is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Outlish Magazine. She's also the Lead Communications Trainer at Livewired Group, where she conducts workshops in business writing, social media, and other communications areas. A real online junkie, when she isn't surfing the Internet, she's thinking about surfing the Internet. Find out more about her here or tweet her @outlishmagazine.
Twitter •
Trinigyal1
Posted at 04:35h, 21 MarchNO. 15 supposed to be Maximus Prime or Maximus Dan 😛
Jovan Reid
Posted at 21:44h, 25 MarchLil Bitts? Outdated for sure!
Richard Ian Jay
Posted at 22:21h, 25 Marchpelt way Lil Bitts.
Marsha S. Haneiph
Posted at 23:01h, 25 MarchI follow Bunji Garlin but this is a good reference list. On Facebook, is where I follow more of them.
OUTLISH Magazine
Posted at 23:45h, 25 MarchJovan Reid Richard Ian Jay Allyuh real rough boy. Lol.
Richard Ian Jay
Posted at 23:49h, 25 Marchpelt way a few of them too. Except david rudder.
OUTLISH Magazine
Posted at 23:50h, 25 MarchTo be fair…it was based on numbers as of March last year eh. But if yuh think of replacements, holla.
Richard Ian Jay
Posted at 00:12h, 26 Marchanybody broke through this year?
Richard Ian Jay
Posted at 00:18h, 26 Marchbut we forget trevor sayers…
Richard Ian Jay
Posted at 00:18h, 26 Marchat our peril. 😛
OUTLISH Magazine
Posted at 00:33h, 26 MarchHahaha