The World Beats event on Saturday certainly lived up to its name, offering fans an exhilarating experience from start to finish. With a fusion of Afro Beats, Latin music, and pop rhythms, it was undeniably a lively celebration.
Arthur Allain, Jon Secada, Joe Boy, Chloe Bailey, Vayb Band, Shannon Pinel and the Derek Yarde Project all graced the stage, delivering energetic performances that had fans swaying throughout their set pieces.
Jon Secada delivered one of the most memorable performances of the night, belting out tunes like ‘Just Another Day’,arguably his most famous song to date, ‘Too Late Too Soon’, ‘Always Something’ and ‘Coming Out of the Dark’.
Secada was thoroughly inspiring, proving,as he has before, he’s no ordinary performer.
Chloe Bailey, who is signed to Beyonce’s Parkwood record label, made quite the debut at the festival, and all eyes were glued to the singer as she performed hits like ‘Told Ya’, ‘Have Mercy’, ‘Worried’ and ‘I Don’t Mind’.
Bailey’s sensual performance certainly stood out as she commanded the stage in every single way, leaving no room for error. And despite being only 25, Bailey made it clear that she’s a force to be reckoned with and is an island girl at heart.
Backed by the Derek Yarde Project (DYP) and dancers that were just as adept, Bailey undoubtedly impressed her audience.
On their own, DYP ,who are renowned locally and who performed before Bailey, attempted to win fans over with their dynamic performance. The band performed a slew of hits including Bruno Mars’ ‘24K Magic’ and Taio Cruz’s ‘Dynamite’ and also invited various local acts to join them on stage.
Irvin ‘Ace’ Loctar and ‘Black Boy’ delivered stellar performances but it was the latter who really won the crowd over.
“We got the opportunity to showcase our talent to the world and I believe as the musical director if we’re doing an international set we should include the Dennery Segment. We always push the younger ones so adding Black Boy to the set is something that we did naturally,” DYP’s Thygeson Penn Joseph said in a backstage interview.
“We came a long way. We started off as a three-piece band, now we’re doing international things and we want to encourage the younger ones to get where we are and even do better,” Joseph said.
Joe Boy who returned to Saint Lucia for a second time received a warm welcome as he performed ‘Baby’, ‘Love Nwantiti’, ‘Beginning’, ‘Alcohol’, ‘Don’t Call Me Back’ and others.
The Nigerian singer told reporters that he was “happy to be back again and I’m just really here to give people a good time.”
International superstar Davido who also hails from Nigeria closed off Saturday’s event. The singer’s infectious energy was well-received, and Davido, in an interview, stated that “the islands have been showing so much love to African music since the beginning of time. I’m just happy that our music is being appreciated all over the world.”
Performing songs like ‘Fall’, ‘Unavailable’, ‘If’, and ‘Sensational’, Davido took fans on a musical journey throughout his set, catering to fans in every way imaginable.
‘The Ultimate Celebration’ continued the following day, Sunday, its last day.