Single Forever Analysis

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'Single Forever' is a chutney soca song released in the year 2012. It was performed by KI – Kris Veeshal Persad – and the crossover band JMC 3Veni. This song won KI the 2012 Chutney Soca Monarch title in Trinidad and Tobago.
Chutney is a genre of uptempo music, accompanied by instruments such as the dolak and dhantal. It is typically played in rhythms 'imported from filmi, calypso or soca.' (www.copacaribbean.com) This genre is indigenous to the southern Caribbean primarily Trinidad and Tobago, and was developed by Indo-Caribbean people whose ancestors were transported to the Caribbean as indentured labourers and later immigrants (during the 1800s). Chutney soca is a term coined by Drupatee Ramgoonai (Trinidad and Tobago) in 1987 as the title of her first album. The advent of chutney soca to Trinidad's music scene 'signified a consolidation of East Indian influence on Trinidadian culture and policies …' (www.coppacaribbean.com)
Soca is a genre of music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago. Its creation is credited to the musician Garfield Blackman, known also by the stage 'Lord Shorty'. Blackman invented this genre in reaction to the fears that calypso music was being supplanted by reggae music. Thus, Lord Shorty was inspired to reinvent calypso music in order to renew interest. He did this 'by adding classical Indian musical elements to traditional calypso music' (www.luxury-caribbean-news.com), refining this new genre over a period of ten years.
Although Lord Shorty created the soca genre, Lord Kitchener popularized it in the caribbean with the realease of his single 'Sugar Bum Bum' in 1978. Kitchener's version of soca was 'racier and more sexually suggestive' (www.luxury-caribbean-news.com)
KI (currently 26 years old) is t...

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...ure also helps perpetuate this way of thinking. The musical genres native to the Caribbean (for example soca, chutney), are incredibly popular because they serve as social commentary, showing the focus of the Caribbean people. The majority of songs within these genres are concerned with men and women (be it dancing, sexual relations, or romantic relationships). Such songs include: 'Real Love' by Kes the Band, 'Manager' by Nadia Batson, and 'She Coming' by Machel Montano.
I find 'Single Forever' remarkable because it is a 'black sheep' in the Caribbean music scene. It is a song that had no reason to be as successful as it was, because the message (proclaimed with gusto) is at odds with the Caribbean culture. However, we can also view its success as a sign that the culture is changing – that the people are becoming more accepting of those who choose to remain single.

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