When “Never Gonna Cheat” singer Sonia Singh, who is making waves in the Chutney genre, learnt of the Guyana Talent Search competition, she immediately jumped on it without a second thought and ended as one of the ten winners.
Sonia, who is also a senior dancer with the popular Ishara Dance Troupe and Berbice Delights Dance Group, said she was happy to be one of the winners, has gained much from the experience and intends on putting away her cash prize (which she is still to receive) until next year when she will begin to pursue tertiary education. The former business student is beginning to realize how much she is fascinated with Science and will be looking to pursue studies in that field.
The eldest of four children, 19-year-old Sonia comes from a home passionate about the arts. Her mother was a dancer and one of her two sisters is involved in the Dancehall genre. The youngest sister, who is 11, has a love for music and assisted Sonia in penning one of her original songs.
Sonia is versed in dancing Bollywood, Chutney, Classical, Soca, HipHop and Belly dancing. While she can sing English Soul songs, which she delivered onstage during the competition, she remains focused on singing in the Chutney and Bollywood genres. Soul, the singer said, is something she is considering doing in the future.
Sonia’s journey in the arts and entertainment industry began when she started singing and dancing at the age of five at various functions hosted by her mandir. At 15, she recorded her first cover song, “Tu Hai Wahi”, which she collaborated on with singer Apache Waria. While this song has garnered several thousand views, it was her other popular cover “Tip Tip Barsa Pani” that gained her recognition.
Sonia and her 11-year-old sister later penned her first original song “Never Gonna Cheat”, a reply to singer Vicadi Singh’s “Never Gonna Leave”, which has more than a million views and almost 10,000 likes. The songwriter has another song in the works which is slated to be released in two weeks. Though she did not share the name of the song, she revealed that it is a Chutney/Soca fusion that encourages people to live their lives doing what makes them happy.
Though she knew well the talent she possessed and the social media following she had, the humble Sonia said when she learnt of the competition, she sent in her TikTok videos showing her performing, but was not sure she would make it into the competition, let alone the finals.
Unlike the other winners who have been featured in The Scene, Sonia is the first to say that she wished there were top three spots instead of all the finalists winning. She added that she was not saying this because she thought she would have made the top three, but because she felt all of the contestants worked really hard with the incentive of finishing at the top. Sonia believes that had the competition played out this way, she might have finished in 7th place, because she was up against some stiff competition and exceptional talent. Added to this, the show attracted a wider audience with varying interests, many of whom she believes, were not too au fait with the Chutney/Bollywood genre or simply do not like it. Sonia explained that while viewers could understand and relate to the songs being sung by her competitors in English, there were not a lot of them who could not connect with her Hindi songs because of the language barrier. Nonetheless, she could not be upset either with the idea of ten winners as she believes they all worked tirelessly and deserved to be winners.
Sonia does agree with her fellow contestants as regards the favourite part of the show being rehearsing for and performing at the Flag Raising Ceremony. The singer shared that while she got along well with everyone, it was the rehearsals for the Independence Day event that allowed them to bond more than they had before.
There were not many challenges for the singer except when rehearsals grew more frequent and she had to travel from her home on the East Bank Demerara to the National Cultural Centre.
Though all other contestants brought their A-game, they did not undertake the risky stunts Sonia did. During one of the show’s episodes, she made her entrance for her performance via the ceiling on a swing. She was not strapped in to prevent her from falling. She pointed out it was all her idea and recalled that when she shared it with the organizers of the competition, they explained to her that if she was certain this was something she really wanted to do, she would be doing it at her own risk. She was then required to rehearse her proposed entrance and was told that if anything went wrong during the rehearsals, her idea of using the swing would be thrown out. Well, all went well as the singer did manage to pull off her magnificent entrance at the beginning of her performance.
Asked whether she was able to take away any new knowledge from the competition, given that she is versed in singing and dancing, she shared that she has gained much and particularly remembers mentor Sean Bhola teaching her how to hold the microphone as she had the habit of holding it in such a way that it blocked her nose. Every time she picked up a microphone after then to perform, she always remembered this.
While she has shared the stage with many local entertainers, Sonia has plans of possibly collaborating with Trinidadian Chutney singer Ravi B. Though she has a host of inspirations, high on her list is dancer Sonali Bhadauria and singer Suprabha KV, both of whom are from India.
The dancer sees herself running her own dance group some day. She hopes in the near future to own her own home and her own car while touring and performing in at least five countries in the next five years. So far she’s only visited Suriname, where she performed at an event there. Five more years added to this, Sonia hopes to become an internationally recognized singer who also has hits in English.
In her free time, the Gemini singer likes to spend her time writing songs, and watching Dhar Mann videos. She enjoys having chicken or vegetable soup.
Sonia can be followed on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @Sonia Singh or @Sonia Singh Official.
