NEW?CALYPSO KING Popsicle does not intend to let his first win cause him to melt into the background of the calypso arena.
He has already begun preparing to defend his crown next year.
Hours after he convincingly won the MQI BANKS/LIME Pic-O-De-Crop Finals, Popsicle, whose real name is David Hall, revealed he had already written a song for next year – and had done so three days before the weekend competition.
Without disclosing his material, he said when he sang it to his tent manager she told him “it was big”, but she quickly advised him to put it aside and focus on the big night ahead of him.
But Hall told the SUNDAY?SUN?yesterday at Hilton Barbados, where he attended a Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) breakfast session, that when material pops into his head he deals with it there and then.
In fact, his cleverly-written uptempo piece Pick A Fair was written last year immediately after the Party Monarch Finals.
“It just came into my head. I?needed to make sure that I had some good material for this year and the concept that I would pick a fair just came to me,” he said.
He believes his ability to write so fluently on things Barbadian must flow from his job as a landscaper.
“Because I work in such an oasis, a therapeutic environment, plants and everything around me, I?get these vibes pretty often. I don’t know if it is nature that’s calling,” he remarked.
But he also revealed that he prepared himself for Friday night’s competition by focusing on performance rather than on winning.
“One of the things I?normally do is to try to put competitions behind me and I?think that is what caused me to win [Friday] night,” he said. “I was not thinking about the money. I?was not thinking about the car. I was not thinking about all the prestige. I just told myself that I have to get out there and perform and enjoy myself.”
The former reggae singer said though he was the only newcomer, he was not intimidated by the big names he had to compete against. “It was an honour to be on stage with those guys – Blood, Gabby, TC and AC,” he said.
About his strategy in Crop Over, he said from early he decided to hold back Pick A Fair and tease the public with Don’t Sell Cornwell. Apparently, it worked.
The 38-year-old Hall described himself as “a simple and humble guy”?who is taking his craft seriously.
That is probably why he did not want to display a “manic reaction”?when he was crowned the winner.
“I just decided to be humble and the first thing that I did was to just shake the hands of all the persons I?competed with because that was the way of showing respect. Everyone was a winner out there.”
Asked if he was going to keep the $103 700 Kia Sportage which he won, Hall jokingly replied:?“I think I?am going to sell it because I drive a truck and I?figure if I keep the car the truck is going to be jealous.”
The artiste who hails from Halls Village, St James, said members of his community were proud of his victory.
Apart from his preparations to defend his crown next year, Hall said he would also be focusing on his parental duties to his 14-year-old son, Nicholas.
“I?actually pushed him on the stage when he was a bit younger but now that he is getting ready for CXCs I?need him to be focused,” Hall said. “He is all preoccupied with the gadgets – the BlackBerry phone and the PlayStation – so it is a challenge to keep him focused because I definitely need him to run my business when I start to swing internationally.”
Hall called himself a well-rounded person who was not afraid to “dabble in certain genres of music”.
And for those people who are wondering from where the name Popsicle came, he would only say: “Some girl gave me it when I was a bit younger.”
