Well, I have been waiting since MACHEL and RUDDER. Although MACHEL was a MAJOR BUST, DAVID RUDDER did come close ... very close in my estimation. And for those who don't know it, 1986 was a REVOLUTIONARY YEAR for CALYPSO/SOCA -- but that is ANOTHER STORY.
Anyway, KES is NOT GOING TO MAKE IT. And NAILAH is NOT GOING TO MAKE IT. The first thing that they should do is to get some SERIOUS VOICE TRAINING. But as I said earlier: in the WE SO TALENTED WORLD of TRINIDAD they are both considered GREAT SINGERS ... DEM could SING REAL GOOD!!!
In actuality, NAILAH needs a LOT MORE WORK in the VOICE TRAINING than KES does -- he could get away with just a LITTLE SHAPING UP ... because of the MALE VOICE and the ISLAND SLANT GENRE.
But here is the REAL PROBLEM: Neither of them has been able to identify a GENRE where they can fit in terms of GLOBAL MARKETS. And so they are ALL OVER THE PLACE as they shoot their MUSICAL ARROWS wildly.
Beyond that, TRINIDAD has a very unique and challenging problem in terms of SUPPORTING LOCAL ARTISTES. That 1.4 million is a little below the BREAK EVEN THRESHOLD for selling enough units to RECOVER your PRODUCTION INVESTMENT. That is a COMPLICATED ISSUE, so I will stop there. It would take a CONCERNED MUSICIANS SIT DOWN in TRINIDAD with the RIGHT LEADERS to unravel this issue and set a new course. But as you all see with all the corruption in THE ARTS -- where do you even begin.
Let me get back to NAILAH and KES -- and again their issues are the same issues faced by all the WANNABE GLOBAL STARS who run to the LOCAL NEWSPAPERS every week talking about TAKING SOCA AND PAN GLOBAL.
THE BIGGEST WEAKNESS for these two is COMMITMENT to a foreign GENRE. The outside world does not care about THE SAVANNAH GRASS or IRON IN THE STEELBAND. So lyrical message and content become the first challenge. But our artistes, knowing that they risk losing everything by taking the BIG DIVE specific to the GLOBAL MARKET -- they always try to hedge their MUSIC PRODUCTIONS by making it LOCAL APPEAL FIRST. That is a VERY LOW PERCENTAGE ROAD. You have to COMMIT to a GLOBAL GENRE and SHOOT FOR THE STARS.
Still, if NAILAH has the right MANAGEMENT TEAM I think that she could BLEND a SOCA/R&B DANCE CUT with some very GENERIC PARTY or LOVE LYRICS (not too much SINGING) and with her CAMERA READY PERSONA -- she could LAND A BIG GLOBAL HIT
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I don't know about KES!!! He seems to have a lot of GOOD MANAGEMENT around him -- but I just don't feel any GLOBAL DIRECTION coming from him.
ADDENDUM
Allyuh will not believe this part!!! But right now if TRINIDAD wants to be on the GLOBAL MUSIC MAP, with all DEM VENEZUELAN MEN invading THE COUNTRY -- yuh snatch one of them with a LITTLE LOOKS AND TALENT and you get a GOOD PRODUCTION TEAM and you DROP A SWEET REGGAETON en ESPANOL (heavy on the SOCA INFLUENCE) con un poco INGLES and WE GONE GLOBAL!!!
A WIN IS A WIN and we PUT TRINIDAD MUSIC ON THE MAP -- doh mind THE SPANISH the capital of the country is PUERTO DE ESPANA!!!
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