Copping three of Crop-Over’s top soca prizes has put Michael Mikey Mercer at the forefront of the season, with his hit Like Uh Bajan edging a tight Tune of De Crop contest by a single play.
Describing his rare hat trick in capturing the majority of the country’s largest soca titles as humbling, the entertainer said he is already in the studio working on songs for next year’s competitions.
At the end of Monday’s Grand Kadooment, Mikey was announced as the winner of the coveted Tune of De Crop title, after taking home the Sweet Soca and Power Soca Monarch titles.
Mikey’s Like Uh Bajan narrowly beat out Leadpipe’s Dah Wuh She Get, with the song being played 14 times compared to the runner-up’s 13. The second place winner took home $7 500.
After All by Shaquille finished in third position with 12 plays, which earned him $5 000.
Mikey, who hauled in the top prize money of $10 000, told Barbados TODAY: “It is a fantastic feeling as a lot of work went into this year and we are thankful that it paid off. The people holding onto the song at this level is something you cannot control. So I am humbled that the general public like it as they do.”
Recalling that when Like Uh Bajan was penned “there was no competition in sight” as his focus was on encouraging a level of national pride and having citizens represent their country visually, he said: “I was hoping that it was something that they would gravitate towards because people always have a lot of talk for Bajans in terms of how we party and so on and I wanted positivity to reign where we were concerned.”
The entertainer said this was already paying off as calls were coming in for him to perform at events overseas.
As for next year, Mikey revealed that during Crop Over he was already in the studio even before the competitions started.
“We have some songs that are already finished. As to if those will be the songs released for next year, that is yet to be seen, God spare life. We are definitely going to look to bring some more energy and more fun within the soca”.
(JB)
