Cherisse Moe

We see them un­der the bright lights, killing it on stage and dom­i­nat­ing our air­waves. In their down­time, just like you and me, they en­joy pop­ping in their head­phones or lis­ten­ing to their favourite songs on a long dri­ve. It is easy to for­get that the peo­ple who make the sound­tracks to our lives have their own per­son­al sound­tracks too.

Mu­sic is a con­stant com­pan­ion, a way to recharge the bat­ter­ies, or sim­ply a space to find in­spi­ra­tion from oth­er cre­ators across the globe. An artiste’s per­son­al taste can of­ten sur­prise you.

Noth­ing beats the sim­ple thrill of just be­ing a fan — find­ing that one bassline that grooves just right, or a lyric that says ex­act­ly how you feel in that mo­ment.

We caught up with some of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s biggest stars to see what hap­pens when the roles are re­versed.

Austin ‘Su­perblue’ Lyons

A leg­endary icon of so­ca, Su­perblue draws in­spi­ra­tion from glob­al leg­ends, spir­i­tu­al re­flec­tion and the mo­ments where new mu­si­cal ideas are born.

• What’s the last song you played? Bob Mar­ley - I Don’t Want to Wait in Vain for My Love.

• Which lo­cal artiste is cur­rent­ly on re­peat? It changes with my mood.

• Which in­ter­na­tion­al artiste can’t you stop lis­ten­ing to? A num­ber of them - Michael Jack­son, James Brown, the Bea­t­les and the Rolling Stones.

• What’s your go-to song when you’re dri­ving? When I’m in the car I like si­lence or think­ing of new ideas for mu­sic.

• What’s one un­der­rat­ed Trinidad and To­ba­go artiste peo­ple should hear? I can’t say just one in par­tic­u­lar be­cause we have so many greats that peo­ple should lis­ten to.

• What’s one song that al­ways lifts your mood? It is not a song. It is a prayer to God almighty. Even a ten sec­ond prayer will slip me in­to a mood, I just think of God.

Vaugh­nette Big­ford

With a voice that smooth­ly bridges the worlds of jazz and rich Caribbean sto­ry­telling, Vaugh­nette knows ex­act­ly what makes a track stand out. Her cur­rent ro­ta­tion is a beau­ti­ful mix of soul­ful clas­sics, live per­for­mance and up­lift­ing an­thems.

• What’s the last song you played? Baby­lon Boops.

• Which lo­cal artiste is cur­rent­ly on re­peat? Kes’ Tiny Desk ses­sion.

• Which in­ter­na­tion­al artiste can’t you stop lis­ten­ing to? Ste­vie Won­der.

• What’s your go-to song when you’re dri­ving? CeCe Winans.

• What’s one un­der­rat­ed Trinidad and To­ba­go artiste peo­ple should hear? Adana Roberts from To­ba­go.

• What’s one song that al­ways lifts your mood? Time­less by Sér­gio Mendes and In­dia Arie.

Trinidad James (Nicholaus Williams)

Known for his bold style and break­out glob­al pres­ence, the hip-hop star brings an en­er­getic per­spec­tive and a sharp ear for stand­out pro­duc­tion and lo­cal tal­ent.

• What’s the last song you played? Jay Z - Can’t Knock the Hus­tle.

• Which lo­cal artiste is cur­rent­ly on re­peat? Jahlano - Blame.

• Which in­ter­na­tion­al artiste can’t you stop lis­ten­ing to? Vince Sta­ples - Cry Ba­by.

• What’s your go-to song when you’re dri­ving? My New Al­bum Bess Drssd. Bess Self is the name of the in­tro. An ab­solute pick you up type of song. Al­bum Drops 7/17.

• What’s one un­der­rat­ed Trinidad and To­ba­go artiste peo­ple should hear? Tef­flon.

• What’s one song that al­ways lifts your mood? Bob Mar­ley - Wait­ing in Vain.

Muhammed Muwak­il

As a writer, spo­ken-word cre­ator and the co-founder and lead vo­cal­ist of the genre-bend­ing mu­si­cal en­sem­ble Free­town Col­lec­tive, Muhammed val­ues raw emo­tion, sto­ry­telling and rhythms that chal­lenge bound­aries.

• What’s the last song you played? Moon­dog by Leif Volle­bekk.

• Which lo­cal artiste is cur­rent­ly on re­peat? An­nalie Prime.

• Which in­ter­na­tion­al artiste can’t you stop lis­ten­ing to? Hozi­er.

• What’s your go-to song when you’re dri­ving? Hu­man - The Killers.

• What’s one un­der­rat­ed Trinidad and To­ba­go artiste peo­ple should hear? Kilu.

• What’s one song that al­ways lifts your mood? Bob Mar­ley - Jump Nyabinghi.

Nisa (Genisa St Hi­laire)

Bring­ing a beau­ti­ful mix of gospel and smooth jazz, Nisa knows how to con­nect with an au­di­ence. Her mu­sic is all about faith, great vo­cals and singing straight from the heart.

• What’s the last song you played? Long Walk by Jill Scott.

• Which lo­cal artiste is cur­rent­ly on re­peat? Jamel K Lewis’ Some­thing Beau­ti­ful.

• Which in­ter­na­tion­al artiste can’t you stop lis­ten­ing to? Voic­es of Fire fea­tur­ing Phar­rell Williams - Ar­mor.

• What’s your go-to song when you’re dri­ving? I don’t dri­ve, but if I did, it would be Back to the World by Tevin Camp­bell.

• What’s one un­der­rat­ed Trinidad and To­ba­go artiste peo­ple should hear? Meeeeeeeee.

• What’s one song that al­ways lifts your mood? This Is How We Do It by Mon­tell Jor­dan.