Patrice Roberts

Who she is

Patrice Roberts has one of the most distinctive voices in soca: raspy, powerful and full of attitude. Like Machel Montano, her former mentor, she started as a child singing calypso and won several national junior competitions in Trinidad and Tobago.¹ While still in her teens she became the first female frontline singer with Machel's band, Xtatik.¹

Two decades on she is a headliner in her own right, with her own concert brand, "I Am Woman", and a catalogue that runs from sweet groovy soca to hard-hitting road songs.²

Signature sound and key songs

Her sound pairs that gravelly tone with assertive lyrics, and she is equally at home on a love song as on a wining anthem. After her Road March breakthrough she built a run of hits including "Sugar Boy", "Wukking Up" and the Afrobeats-tinged "Tender".¹

Her biggest hit so far is "Mind My Business", which became a social media phenomenon throughout 2022 and, according to the Recording Academy, established Patrice as soca's most-streamed female artist.¹ That same year she joined a cast of leading women from dancehall and soca on Nicki Minaj's "Fine Nine Remix" of Skeng's "Likkle Miss".¹

Carnival legacy

In 2006 "Band of the Year", her duet with Machel Montano, won the Road March, and the National Library's record of that year's winners lists the title under both their names.³ It made Patrice the youngest woman ever to take the title.¹

She has stayed in the Road March conversation ever since. In 2023 her reunion with Machel, "Like Yuhself", placed third behind Bunji Garlin's "Hard Fete" and Nailah Blackman and Skinny Fabulous's "Come Home".⁴ In 2024 her solo hit "Anxiety" also finished third, behind Mical Teja's "DNA" and Bunji Garlin's "Contract".⁵

Start here

• "Mind My Business" (2022): the viral smash.
• "Band of the Year" (with Machel Montano, 2006): the historic Road March.
• "Anxiety" (2024): a recent road favourite.
• "Like Yuhself" (with Machel Montano, 2023): a joyful wining duet.
• "Sugar Boy": classic early Patrice.
• "Tender": her softer, Afrobeats-flavoured side.

Sources

1. GRAMMY.com: 5 Artists Essential to Contemporary Soca (2023) (opens in a new tab) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

2. Patrice Roberts official links (Linktree) (opens in a new tab) ↩

3. NALIS: Carnival Winners 2006 (archived) (opens in a new tab) ↩

4. Trinidad Guardian: Bunji is king of the road (2023) (opens in a new tab) ↩

5. Express Vibes: Mical Teja had the DNA to win Road March crown (2024) (opens in a new tab) ↩