So­ca heavy­weights Iw­er George, Nailah Black­man, Trinidad Kil­la, Nes­sa Prep­py and Yung Bred­da are among a star-stud­ded list of 20 artistes to ad­vance to the se­mi-fi­nal round of the Ul­ti­mate So­ca Cham­pi­on.

Ten young­sters in­clud­ing Aaron Dun­can and Verrse are those mov­ing ahead in the Youth So­ca Cham­pi­on leg of the com­pe­ti­tion.

Au­di­tions for the com­pe­ti­tion, which has a $1 mil­lion grand prize, took place at the South­ern Acad­e­my for the Per­form­ing Arts in San Fer­nan­do on Jan­u­ary 25 and 26, ac­cord­ing to a press re­lease is­sued yes­ter­day. Judges re­viewed over 200 so­ca artistes through walk-ins and video sub­mis­sions.

Speak­ing dur­ing the au­di­tions, so­ca new­com­er Imani Ray from New York praised the com­pe­ti­tion’s for­mat as an ex­cel­lent way to show­case all as­pects of lo­cal cul­ture.

“I’m ex­cit­ed, it’s some­thing fresh and new and I love how they’re go­ing about the show,” Ray, who sings Own It said. She said she liked the tele­vi­sion as­pect of the show and she was ea­ger to see how far she could go.

“I feel like we need a plat­form to show the tal­ent here in Trinidad. It’s a great thing.” 

Showrun­ner Jerome “Rome” Pre­cil­la said he was over­whelmed by the turnout of over 200 artistes. He said it warmed his heart to see them prac­tis­ing and bring­ing their dancers to bring their “all” to the stage. 

When it was first an­nounced that a new so­ca com­pe­ti­tion was in train, fol­low­ing the ab­sence of the In­ter­na­tion­al So­ca Monarch, some ar­tisites felt there was no need for an­oth­er con­test. But Pre­cil­la said every­thing in life is com­pe­ti­tion. 

“Com­pe­ti­tion breeds ex­cel­lence. Some of the best per­for­mances you see is on a com­pe­ti­tion stage. In or­der to be the best you have to beat the best,” he said.

The se­mi-fi­nals will take place at Na­pari­ma Bowl Am­phithe­atre, San Fer­nan­do on Feb­ru­ary 9.

The first episode of the tele­vi­sion show will be broad­cast on Feb­ru­ary 2 on CNC3.

The fol­low­ing artistes will com­pete in the se­mi-fi­nal for a chance to be crowned the Ul­ti­mate So­ca Cham­pi­on 2025:

1. Ani­ka Berry- Sad­dle 

2. An­thonell Bra­vo - Rough It Up 

3. Bla­ka Dan - Bless­ings (Grena­da) 

4. Cas­sell - Sen­sa­tion­al 

5. Dash - The Tape (Grena­da) 

6. Ding Dong - Throw Back

7. G.I -Mockin Mouth 

8. Imani Ray- Own It (USA) 

9. Iw­er George - Yes I do 

10. Jadel - Jam Some­body

11. Ju­by - More Gyal

12. Kris Kennedy- No Way

13. Nailah Black­man - For­ev­er

14. Nes­sa Prep­py x M1- Mu­sic is Life 

15. Or­lan­do Oc­tave - Auc­tion

16. Preedy- Blaze Fire 

17. Swap­pi - Stamp It

18. Tril­la G- Some­one Else (Do­mini­ca) 

19. Trinidad Kil­la - Es­ki­mo 

20. Yung Bred­da - Great­est Bend Over

Re­serve: Snakey - De Ham­mer

Youth So­ca Cham­pi­on se­mi-fi­nal­ists vy­ing for $200,000 top prize:

1. Aaron Dun­can - One of a Kind 2. Chris­to - Uni­ty 

3. Ju­ni­ah Li­fa - Se­crets

4. Kristi­na - Like Dat 

5. Paris Coutain - Lick Up

6. Sack­ie - Ta­ble 

7. Seyi - From the Caribbean

8. Shéquan - Flat­ten It (Grena­da)

9. Su­cre - The Great­est

10. Verrse - Pump It Up