SAINT LUCIA CARNIVAL 2023 Review

Saint Lucia Carnival took a step in the right direction this year when it comes to authenticity. Last year, concerns were expressed about the carnival season having too many foreign djs and too much foreign music. It was nice to see that promoters listened to the feedback and made those changes this year. This time around, the two main areas of concern are the amount of so called influencers coming to the carnival for clout rather than just enjoyment, and the lack of carnival spirit and vibes on the island during the week of carnival.

The Road

The famous bum bum wall had been painted in beautiful bright colors with the pitons drawn and the words “Saint Lucia Carnival” written. One of the sweetest carnival gifts a Saint Lucian can receive! 

All of the bands looked really good on the road. Costumes were beautiful and everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives. Of course I have to mention that majority of the music was Saint Lucian soca. This carnival was musically authentic and I loved every bit of it. I just wish the djs had played some throwback saint lucian soca from artists like ricky t , qpid, nicole david, mongstar, … etc. 

I was on the road with Xuvo Carnival. My costume fit me perfectly. It was definitely true to size and exactly like what was advertised. Xuvo had 2 music trucks and one of the trucks had a live band. You can't go wrong with a live band. They also had a truck with porta potties, an ac bus, a food truck, and a drinks truck. The wristband had 4 chits that granted masqueraders a meal and a snack for each day. The food was absolutely delicious. On Carnival Monday, the food truck had stew chicken with potato salad, wedges, and regular salad. Later on, the truck had provisions with saltfish. On Carnival Tuesday, the food truck had stew chicken with provisions. Those were the meals and the snack was a hot dog. I would say something that Xuvo should incorporate next carnival is a mist truck that sprays light water to cool people down because the sun was extremely hot. Also, the trucks need to move slower because they were moving way too fast. I felt like I was running the whole time. 

Congratulations to Xuvo Carnival for coming in 1st place for spirit of carnival, and Fuzion Mas in 2nd Place. Tribe of Twell came in 1st place for band of the year and Just 4 Fun in 2nd Place. Tribe of Twell again in 1st place for mas on the move, and Xuvo Carnival in 2nd place. 

I always specifically look forward to the road march results. However, the results were a bit questionable. 1st place - clock out by imran nerdy, 2nd place - hello carnival by ezra, 3rd place - ms grippy by shemmy j, and tied at 4th place - kay ou by ricky t and kedek kedek by mighty. I feel like I heard “hello carnival” on the road the most. If I had to fix the road march results, the correct order would be 1st place - hello carnival, 2nd place - clock out, 3rd place - kedek kedek, and 4th place - ms grippy. 

Events

TRANSCEND (by Deeper Than Soca) - Tuesday July 11th. This was the first event to start off my carnival week. I like to call this event the road before the road. The carnival warm up. There was a truck on the road to jump up, and then after a while, the truck parked inside of the venue and the fete continued. The process of getting into the venue after the road was too chaotic, but we made it in eventually. There were also different crews with a specific color and you had to wear one of those colors. You also had the option of purchasing what was called “moonlight wear”, which was pretty much like a monday wear. This night time, drinks inclusive, jump up is definitely a must attend event. 

CHECK IN (by Golden Events Intl) - Wednesday July 12th. This was a first time event featuring Trinidad's famous Yung Bredda, Pimpin, and Dj Hotty. The vibes took a while to pick up. However, people like Ezra Dfunmachine, A1Jugglers, and Multitalentedjugglers woke the crowd up before performance time. People made their way closer to the stage with their coolers and started dancing. The performances were perfect. They weren’t too long and they were lively. This event was also at a location that I have never been to for any event. It was an open space right on the Rodney Bay strip, which was very convenient. Promoters should definitely use that space more often. 

XUVO WELCOME PARTY (by Verve / Xuvo Carnival) - Wednesday July 12th. Verve was the place to go right after check in. The vibes were there upon walking in. However, the set that Jr Cruiza and ByfarMega played took the vibes up a notch and really had the crowd moving. That set of Dennery Segment struck a different nerve. We did not want it to end but unfortunately all good things must. The police stopped the music a little past 3am. However, folks still mingled for a bit outside of the bar on the road which was a vibe. 

SAKA FETE (by Hollywood HP) - Friday July 14th. Don’t you just love a creative themed event? Saka fete’s camping, or should I say “glamping”, theme had folks come out in some dope outfits. Even the promo models’ outfits and venue decor was dope. The table sections were set up as tents. Very creative! Great Job decor team! There were multiple food stations with delicious local food and even local ice cream for dessert. The music was a perfect blend of local music and other island music. However, it was pretty evident that the crowd was more of a foreign crowd. The crowd response to the local songs were low energy versus the high energy response they gave to the soca songs you normally hear in the states. 

SOAK’T (by Verve / Xuvo Carnival) - Saturday July 15th. If you love jouvert, this is the perfect event for you. Still my favorite event for the carnival season. It might have even been better than the road for me. There was water and paint being splashed. Alot of Dennery Segment being played and everyone enjoying themselves. There was none of that dry zone or table nonsense that the jouvert events in NYC has. There were also food trucks. However, they were all selling the same thing, chicken and fries. It would have been nice if there was more of a variety, like maybe one truck selling fried bakes or something instead of fries. Also, the process of getting inside was hectic for this event as well . More lines and more people checking wristbands was definitely needed. Nevertheless, this jouvert event is not to be missed if you plan on coming to Saint Lucia carnival.

FAMALY (by Golden Events Intl) - Saturday July 15th. This event advertised performances from Umpa, Shemmy J, Skinny Fabulous, Voice, Asa Banton, Sukie, and Jada Kingdom. There were also a few surprise guest performances from local artists that were not advertised. The performances took forever to start. I am not a fan of concerts but I really wanted to see Sukie's performance, so I waited it out only to be disappointed because the event ended and Sukie never came on. However, the performances I enjoyed the most were Skinny Fabulous, Asa Banton, and the local artists from MKG. There were also a lot of really young people at this event that looked to be below 18. The drinks at this event were cheap, $5 ec for a bounty lime and sprite, so that was a plus. Another plus was that there were food tents and one of the tents was selling actual food and not the usual chicken and fries. 

SUNLIT (by Verve / Xuvo Carnival) - Sunday July 16th. This was supposed to be an all inclusive breakfast party, but turned out to be an all inclusive brunch since the start time got pushed back. This was actually a good thing because it allowed people to come there after the other breakfast fetes. The food was so good. There was a local bread station where bread was being baked on the spot. There was a provisions station, a soup station, and a food station with meats, rice and peas, and salad. There were fruits by the bar as well. One thing that I found strange was the location of the event being posted the morning of. The theme advertised was “High Tea Ty Tea!”, highly fashionable. This was a very dope theme. Best believe I came through with the outfits this carnival! But, when I realized it was happening at Verve, I felt like my outfit was too much. The venue just did not live up to the theme. But that’s ok! It’s a hot girl summer, so there’s no such thing as being overdressed. Oh and the sun was lit for sure! It was extremely hot! I believe the heat prevented folks from really enjoying themselves at first, but praise god we got some rain. The rain allowed people to cool down and to really break free and to start to enjoy the fete. It was a really great turnout. 

This year, I switched up my event list a bit. I decided to try events that I don’t normally go to. There were also less events this year and some of the original events switched days. For example, I usually go to Verve’s / Xuvo’s event “AURA '' on carnival thursday but that event did not happen this year. Also, there was not as much hype for boat rides as usual. I would assume it’s because the pearl was not operating this season and a lot of boat rides were on catamarans and had to dock in castries. 

SLU Carnival Concerns

Island Vibes. I arrived on the island on Monday, July 10th. Now I didn’t expect the place to be jumping on a Monday. However, even as the week went on, the place was just so dead. I would walk through Rodney Bay and the carnival spirit just wasn’t in the air. It was so quiet. Shops weren’t playing any of the carnival songs and they would close really early. It was almost impossible to find food other than kfc past 8 / 9 pm. I told myself that maybe everyone knew that this was the week all of the foreigners were going to invade the island so they went into hiding lol. It didn’t get lively until about Friday, 3 days away from carnival. 

Tuesday wear. As a Tuesday wear / Monday wear seller myself, I must say that the bands are starting to look a bit messy on carnival tuesday. It is also difficult to distinguish the paying masqueraders from the invaders. I believe that the bands need to collaborate with Tuesday wear designers so that everyone eats and wins, and so that the bands are uniformed on Carnival Tuesday. I didn’t want to make comparisons, but a perfect example of this would be Spicemas in Grenada. Those bands provide different options of Monday wear to choose from and it is uniformed. Or, in Trinidad, there is enough security consistently checking for wristbands on Carnival Monday, to keep invaders out, even though masqueraders are in their own customized monday wear. It seems in St Lucia, there wasn’t enough security in the bands to adequately perform such a task. The security also gave up and stopped kicking invaders out of the band after crossing the stage. 

Artists. I am not sure what is going on with the artists, but they are doing a terrible job at promoting themselves and their music, or even putting out music. While I was still in NYC, about a month before carnival, I wasn’t hearing enough music or at least enough good ones. The only artists I saw promoting their songs on social media were Ezra D’ Funmachine, Shemmy J, and Sedale, so shoutouts to those guys for putting themselves out there and putting out well composed songs. Another thing that locals brought up was the fact that too much groovy songs were put out this year and the sounds didn’t sound Saint Lucian like what they were used to. Nonetheless, I think it’s good for artists to experiment with different sounds to appeal to a larger market outside of Saint Lucia, in addition to still creating the songs that sound Saint Lucian. 

Influencers. This year there was an influx of so-called “influencers”. When I hear the word “influencer”, I think of someone who would influence people to come to that island or experience that carnival with a particular band. By doing so, they would provide informative information about the band, the costumes, the events, the music, things to do or places to visit on the island, … etc. An influencer should also be a people person, be able to mingle, be fun, and have a good attitude. I was told by a witness that one popular female whiner rolled her eyes at a local fan that went to tell her hello and hug her. These influencers, that the bands hired and seemed to praise, were there for clout because Saint Lucia is the trending carnival right now. It seemed like they were just there to go viral and become more popular versus actually wanting to experience and enjoy the carnival culture. What I would say is .. these Lucian bands / promoters need to do a better job of supporting their own. There are enough popular and not so popular Saint Lucians that produce great content and would make great influencers, brand ambassadors, team members, … etc. Not to say that the bands and promoters shouldn’t have any foreign influencers, but it doesn’t have to be a million of them. It should be influencers that actually promote and contribute to the band.

Photographers & Videographers. These guys are very talented. I give them that. However, their camera lens seems to be a bit biased. It seemed like they were going after the same popular females or capturing females with a certain body type or look. There wasn’t a balance. I feel like a photographer or videographer should make all the women feel beautiful by trying to take pictures and videos of everyone rather than going behind the same women all the time. For example, I didn’t really see much plus size women being captured. 

Costume Prices. Costume designs have definitely improved over the past few years in Saint Lucia. However, they are becoming too pricey. I remember the times that I paid about $300 - $400 usd for a backline costume, and that included at least a small feathered headpiece or collar. I understand that the quality of the carnival is improving, the popularity is increasing, and inflation is a thing, but any costume over $1200 usd is a drag in my opinion. I feel like the big bands should cater to everybodys’ pockets. There should be a range of costume prices. Cheaper options so that locals can afford to jump up too, rather than everything being so expensive to the point that only foreigners and upper class Saint Lucians can afford. Also, bands should have more of a variety of designers that they are using. Everyone just keeps using the same couple of designers from trinidad. They are talented indeed, but there are a million of other talented costume designers outside of Trinidad that can be used as well to design a section. 

Route. As a Saint Lucian, all I have to say about the route is please allow the bands to pass all the way in town like they used to before the pandemic. The bands not going all the way through town is causing chaotic traffic when the bands have to pass each other in opposite directions. The roads are just too small for that. I was told that the reason the bands can’t go all the way through town anymore is because of the robberies and high crime. However, I believe this excuse isn’t justifiable enough because the crime and robberies can literally happen anywhere along the route and not just in town. Not to mention the fact that most of the invaders came in the band after the stage and followed the band out of town, all the way back to the start.

Flights. I'm not sure if this is something the saint lucian government or who ever can fix for next year, but these flight prices for the vaval were insane this year. In addition to the ridiculously high flight prices, there are not enough flights coming in to the island and going out, in my opinion.

Saint Lucia Carnival 2023 is an improvement from 2022. It was fun. However, each year, while having my fun, I also observe and think of ways that the overall carnival season and bands can improve.  So, thank you for reading and leave your comments / thoughts below.