As a young girl growing up in Wisconsin, USA, Nicole John-Jack grew up hearing mainly music of the Country and pop genres. “There were about 2,000 people living in my town. We had whites and Native Americans, two Mexicans and one Chinese boy who was adopted. That’s it.” The faint racial diversity made her curious “about what was out there in the world beyond that town”.
Now performing covers of every imaginable genre, including rock ‘n’ roll, reggae and R&B, the attractive blonde, known as Youni-T, is intent on forging a career in soca while adding the essence of different genres. “I can’t grow up with something and then let it go. I fuse music a lot. We let the music tell us what it wants us to do but soca is the core.” It was her producer who introduced her to soca music. “I first heard it about seven years ago and I loved the beat and became interested in the culture.
“I feel that I bring a new style and lyric to the soca. I am certainly not here to be like ‘Ha, ha! I’m trying to take your soca from you!’ I am totally giving you your respect for your music but just with my spin. I believe that if you fuse music, you fuse people. I realise that I just have to ease people into what I’m doing. This is the second year that I’ve come to Trinidad to perform. One of my songs is ‘Dance With Me’ and that was written by Nnika Francis and produced by Charsu.” She has also released a power soca song titled “The Greatest Show On Earth” (produced by Anthony Alexander), as well “T.C.S” which stands for TechnoChutneySoca.
John-Jack, who now resides in Miami, Florida, made her performing debut in Trinidad last year. “I had a song called ‘Get Wassi’.” She also recorded a pan song titled “Pan Infekshun”, which was featured on Alvin Daniell’s Calypso Compilation CD. “The general public has been very supportive. I mean, they may not jump up to my song for the whole five minutes but they dance. They have pride in their music but yet they are so welcoming. I mean, I’m no Destra (Garcia) or Fay-Ann (Lyons-Alvarez), so I’m very, very pleased.”
In spite of her setbacks, she spoke lightheartedly. “I’ve been recording and recording and recording. It’s been a tough, tough time getting my foot in the door. Those doors were locked pretty tight!” She chuckled. “It’s been an uphill battle. We’ve just been playing my music for as many ears as possible. There were songs that people said weren’t ‘Trini enough’, then there were some who liked it but were sort of afraid to put it out there as it was so different.”
Formally trained in vocal music, she taught Music at a Nairobi Academy in Kenya, Africa, for a short period. Back in her homeland, she became a full-time English teacher but her students’ adverse life circumstances mentally took a toll on her. “I loved teaching but it started getting upsetting and draining. There were students who were expelled or pregnant or in drugs and all sorts of things. It’s only for so long you can see the devastation, hunger, abuse and other things before being affected. I decided to make music that was uplifting and happy. I wanted to spread joy with my music.
“There isn’t a huge market in Miami for soca. They focus on pop, R&B and rock ‘n’ roll. The only time soca is really huge is at Carnival time there.” As a performer at various establishments in her city, she is a versatile act. “I sing everything, from Adele to Aretha Franklin to Chaka Khan to (the rock band) Journey.”
Past Road March winner, Preacher, who beat out contenders with his “Jump and Wave” in 1994, has played a key role in her journey in soca. “Preacher helped me a lot. He would help us with the music and we would bounce ideas off of him. He also told me that it’s especially tough for a woman, and that I’d have to grind, grind, grind. He helped in making contacts here as well. I consider him to be part of my team”
She’s ecstatic to be in the mecca of soca, especially as she consistently performs at the Carnival Village in Port of Spain. Of the Carnival Village officials, she said, “They have been so kind. They were the first ones to say ‘Yeah’ to me.”
Later on, in creating a lighter moment, I teasingly mentioned that during one of her performances, I had seen her ‘put down a wine’ as us locals would say. She burst into unbridled laughter. “Well, if you call it a wine, then that’s a compliment! I’ll take it! I used to watch Carnival and all of that, so I had an idea of how they did it. You know what they say, when in Rome… and in this case, when in Trinidad…! You know that’s usually the second question I’m asked when people hear that I sing soca. They’re like, ‘Yes but can you wine?’ I always tell them I don’t know but I do something! You watch and then tell me!”
Her personality was that of a champion. “You just push and push. The more you do, the more people see you. After Carnival, I’ll be going back to work on next year’s music. Hopefully, some day, with soca, we’ll just go over the world, basically!”
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