Soca artist Fay-Ann Lyons’ aptly titled album “Break the World,” went on to smash the international world when it hit number three on Billboard’s Reggae and Soca chart after its debut. The historical chart-making rank was a first for an individual female soca artist, and the singer was not only thrilled when she learned of her album’s ranking on the chart but said that she also foresaw it.
“I think many people are not really surprised — these are things that they expected because music is something I was born into and I think it is second nature to me,” said Lyons. “The support and appreciation have been enormous and it’s just a matter of believing you can achieve certain things and doing it.”
With the album’s success, Lyons said she saw more doors being opened for the soca music industry.
“I’m all for getting soca music on an internationally recognized platform and soca has been trying to get that recognition very long,” she said. “We had success but it hasn’t been constant and consistent. Having this happen is an accomplishment.”
The 16-track album, which was released worldwide earlier this month is soca at its core, but also a mixture of various styles of music she loves and dabbles, said Lyons. She said listeners will enjoy the wide array of modern sounds.
“We have power soca, we have electronic dance music fused songs, afrobeat, dancehall songs — we have all types of music fused with soca,” said Lyons. “The album represents all types of songs I write and genres that I’m interested in and can do.”
She paid homage to the classics as much as the current music trends.
There are so many young and talented people in the Caribbean who have and been here for years pushing the music and pushing the culture.
“I put together as much of a diverse category of songs, showing soca from back in the day and what it is in now with the youth and experiment with soca,” she said.
But even with reaching this milestone achievement, Lyons said she wants to see other artists achieve the same goal.
“I want people to know that I’m not alone and there are many other talented artists and I’m not the only one,” said Lyons. “There are so many young and talented people in the Caribbean who have and been here for years pushing the music and pushing the culture.”
