Man on a mission: Imran Nerdy gearing up for successful Saint Lucia Carnival

You can call reigning Saint Lucia Power Soca Monarch and Road March King Imran Nerdy Magloire “Mr Carnival”.
He’s been putting in major work this season, releasing and heavily promoting his new music, with twelve releases under his belt so far. Still on a high from the success of his 2023 monster hit Clock Out, the talented singer-songwriter is not slowing down.

Speaking with Barbados TODAY via phone, he shared that the major takeaway from his big year last year was the love he received from his supporters.

“It was just an experience that i never saw coming so soon and it was kind of overwhelming at the same time. But I really enjoyed it, though,” he said.
Before transitioning into singing, he broke into the industry as a songwriter. Then he got the opportunity to record with Miguel Joseph of Vibez Productionz. Over the years, the entertainer has been consistently honing his craft. His patience and hard work paid off with whirlwind performance tours which saw him perform at carnivals in numerous destinations including Martinique, Canada, New York and Miami.
Most recently, he was one of the guest performers at the Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival (during fellow soca artiste Ezra D’funmachine’s set) and he took the stage by storm, his magnetic stage presence felt by thousands of patrons at the historic Pigeon Point Landmark, who jumped and waved with glee. It’s a performance that he’s immensely proud of.

“To this day, I still can’t believe it because every time you hit the stage, to hear people singing your music… I was only dreaming of it, but then to see it actually unfold is something totally different. You actually could see the joy in people’s faces while you sing because the song resonates with them. That feeling … there aren’t words for it,” he gushed.

Onto this year’s Lucian Carnival releases, Imran shared that his rationale is quite strategic, with the overall vison that the songs outlast the season. He noted that people anticipated that he would come with a concept similar to Clock Out, but he wanted to leave the song in its own space, so he decided to tap into different
concepts that people could relate to. His releases so far include Fail on the French Toast Riddim, Iwo Na Dara, Man of the House on the Castries Market Riddim, Destruction, Start the Party and Cool Down.

“It’s not that thing where you only get two songs from an artiste for the entire year. I no longer want to do it that way,” he stated.
Right now, the big question floating around is “Will he defend his titles this year?” Yes, he is. He’s doing it for his supporters and out of reverence for Saint Lucia Carnival’s national events. And as the anticipation for Lucian Carnival starts to warm up. he’s looking forward to the vibes and the atmosphere of it all, and of course, seeing people from all over the world enjoy the festivities.
This year, he’s having his first event, Revel, an intimate birthday brunch that will be quintessentially Caribbean. As he continues to take up space in the soca fraternity, Imran is grateful to his supporters for all the love they’ve been showing him and makes special mention of his fellow artistes who have been releasing brilliant music, his producers Miguel Joseph and Rankin Morgan and his management team.

Supporters are encouraged to bring their red or white rags to his performances this season as he suits up for an explosive Lucian Carnival 2024.