LU: What is it that attracts people to soca on a worldwide scale?
FN: The jumping energy! In soca we sing fast and hype it. When I play live I want to see thousand of flags waving in the air and a real frenzy, you know? See soca music is like a summer jam. You wanna get wet with it! It’s like a pool party or a beach party. It’s super fun. It’s good music when you want to take a day and say, “today is going to be a fun day.” Forget all problems, forget all struggles and strife and just make it fun. And that’s the basic thing I want to bring to the music.
LU: Some are suggesting that soca is more popular than it’s ever been internationally. As someone who has toured the globe, do you see it that way?
FN: Well to be honest in my 30 years I’ve seen it grow since Arrow’s “Hot Hot Hot” buss international. You have guys like Harry Belafonte who have sung over a lot of soca melodies. Then there are artists like Rupee who has a lot of success outside of Trinidad. And again, you see “slow groove” in all of that. I believe the melodies and the concepts of these songs are real songs that appeal to the American audiences and elsewhere on the globe. And personally, I am not interested in record deals. You can distribute my album but what I really am interested in is movie deals. I want my song to be in a mainstream movie and have my song as a title track.
