Former calypso monarch Terri Lyons is ready for Carnival 2025 and has already released three songs for the season, including a soca and her calypso monarch contender, Ask Yuh Man.
Ask Yuh Man was released on January 29, but the song won her the Regional Queen of Queens Female Calypso competition for the third consecutive year in Montserrat on December 30.
She is the first person to achieve such. She said the regional crown was an add-on to her legacy, even though not many people in Trinidad and Tobago knew about it and did not understand how big the title was.
Lyons said she re-worked the song and added more lyrics to “make it more meaningful” for the National Calypso Monarch competition.
The song advised women who found themselves cheated on, not to fight and argue with the other woman or embarrass themselves with their behaviour, whether in person, on social media or via telephone.
“Now you vex with the woman, but you’re still speaking to the guy, knowing he’s been lying to you, or both of you. It ain’t rocket science. Both of allyuh is not the problem, yet no one is addressing the main problem, who is probably going to continue seeing both of y’all.”
Instead, she encouraged them to “put back on their crown” because there were other ways to handle the situation. She said the man was the real problem, so they should interrogate him.
As the Regional Queen of Queens, Lyons was the calypso monarch of the Caribbean, since she competed against female representatives from other Caribbean countries. While proud of her achievement, she said, like other calypsonians, titles did not do much for her career.
She lamented that Trinidadians and Tobagonians tend to ignore those selected to represent the country in whichever field they were in, and only gave praise, support and accolades when that person won or someone abroad acknowledged them.
“Especially in the calypso fraternity, people seem to not give respect were respect is due. There are a lot of calypsonians doing great things and are not being recognised on a bigger scale.”
“I just find only a lot of talk goes into the culture but not physical and financial action. I would like corporate to be more interested, more involved. When last have you seen a calypsonian as a brand ambassador for a phone company or anything?
“Since 1939, we only have five females to ever win the Calypso Monarch. Every time we win, the TT National Library calls you to do an interview because its historical. But, that’s about it. Nothing happens after that.”
Lyons said even after years of performing, every year she felt as if she still had to audition to perform during the season, but she was determined to continue, even as people boxed her into the calypso genre while she also sang soca.
Her 2025 soca, Forward, is a mix of soca, calypso and Afro beats. Produced by Private Ryan and written by Mela Caribe, it is a positive song encouraging people not to give up. She also released Vintage Vibe on the Future Past Riddim, which had “a splice of The Mighty Shadow melody,” whi
