DO NOT CALL Sekon Sta a songwriter, even though his track record says he is. Last year, the Trinidadian had 15 songs on heavy rotation for Crop Over for various artistes. This year he only wrote for King Bubba FM and Shanta, but is okay with that.
“I write songs. I am not a songwriter. I only write songs for people that I like. I write for myself as I know what I want in a song.
“I am not one of those people you can call and hire. I will call you if I have a song for you.”
Sekon Sta was born Nesta Boxill, the son of famous calypsonian and prolific songwriter Dennis Franklyn Williams, known as Merchant.
Being in soca has been a natural transition. “Since I was born I was around the scene and the industry so it was a natural indoctrination. I know you don’t want to get into all the details of the nitty gritty and intricacies but safe to say it was all I knew.
“All I knew is that I wanted to be a soca artiste.”
He got into writing songs because his dad, who has since passed away, refused to write for him.
“My dad used to write for everyone and I used to ask him to write me a song and he never did. A day he told me, “Suppose I was to die today would you come to the grave with a pen and a paper and ask me for a song?
“That got me so angry. And I went off and wrote my own song.”
The first song he wrote and recorded was Cool Me Down and he made the International Soca Monarch Finals with it at age 15. Competition wasn’t new to him as at age 11 he entered the Junior Monarch competition and placed last out of 25. He went back the next year and placed third.
He has also written Stick It, The Best, Bumper Swag, Put In That Work and Maximum, among others.
Speaking to EASY magazine at his hotel in Christ Church before heading out to Platta Studios to continue working on his music for next year, the 25-year-old explained the moniker, Sekon Sta.
The Sekon came from his father being the first and him being the second and people always calling him sekon (how second is pronounced in Trinidad) and the Sta comes from his first name Nesta.
The name was “accepted” when he was 19 years old.
He explained, “There was a lull in my career, from the junior competition to the transition into adult entertainment when there was absolutely nothing there for me. We call it the dead zone. If artistes don’t get past that, they get lost in that period. And I was there and I didn’t know what to do.”
His back up plan was to be a lawyer but he was focused on other goals.
In his catalogue he has written for Nadia Batson, 5 Star Akil, Kerwin Du Bois, Jaiga, Syo, Mr Renzo and many others out of Trinidad. He says he tends to forget who he writes for. For Barbados, he has penned for Alison Hinds, Lil Rick (Last Man To Leave, Great Day), Shanta (Hello), and King Bubba (Who Drinking Rum and Mash Up) and again he says he cannot remember the names of many of the songs he has written.
“To be honest I only remember some when I hear them on the radio and I will be like, ‘Oh yes I wrote that’.”
He says the songs he writes don’t have many changes when the artistes are finished – just a few words here and there.
Sekon Sta calls King Bubba FM “family”.
“He was the first person who gave me a chance two years ago before anyone else gave me a chance. He had the greatest interest in me as a young person who write songs. I reached out to him and he gave me the opportunity.”
Sekon Sta, though, is open to working with other producers. He admires Peter Coppin, Bubbles, Dwaingerous and Red Boyz, but he had never reached out to them. He actually grew up on Monstapiece in Trinidad, he said.
He wrote two songs for Lil Rick two years agaon and was brought to Barbados to write more songs.
“I grew up on Lil Rick’s music too so getting the chance to write for him was icing on the cake. I have always had a fascination with Bajan music. So it was easy as he was one of the people I wanted to write for since I knew myself.”
King Bubba FM has been gaining fame from his hit Crop Over 2015 tune Mash Up, which Sekon Sta co-wrote out of “annoyance”.
“I had just landed in Barbados, dead tired and wanted to sleep. He kept bugging me for a song. I wrote it in bout 15 minutes with the beat he gave me as he was being miserable. I gave him the voice notes and went to sleep.
“The final production was all his genius. That had nothing to do with me. That is why I like writing for King Bubba . . . . I can give him anything and he make it a gem of a song.”
Sekon Sta says it is a great feeling when he hears his songs being played, but he is faced with a dilemma.
“When I hear them I don’t know if to dance, or jump for joy,” he said, laughing.
Sekon Sta has performed twice in Barbados but admits he is not recognisable.
“People pass me and don’t know how much work I have done. My name is credited on many but people don’t know that it is me.
Trinidad carnival 2016 music is now being worked on in studio in Barbados, where he says he likes to write. Last year he released nine, with four being hits.
He won Breakout Artiste of the Year 2015, voted on by the people and is looking to enter Soca Monarch next year.
“My phone has over 750 voice notes of songs so I am looking to release quite a few next year.
He calls the scene in Trinidad competitive.
“There are not many songwriters but there are many artistes, just like in Barbados.
“I see artistes here I would like to work with. I like Leadpipe and Saddis, Stiffy, he mad. I like him.”
The young writer doesn’t have a problem with different genres being infused.
“I have heard soca drum melodies in dancehall music. I listen to Bajan bashment music that have some hardcore dancehall element. Once the music sounds good and we doing it correctly let’s go forward with it.”
