With more than a decade of dominance on the soca stage, Tian Winter has established himself as one of Antigua and Barbuda’s most celebrated artists. The multi – Party Monarch and Road March champion has not only built a reputation at home but has also carried his country’s music and culture across international stages from Notting Hill to Caribana, Miami Carnival, and beyond. Since being named a cultural ambassador in 2013, Tian has embraced the responsibility of representing Antigua and Barbuda to the world, blending soca with R&B, reggae, and pop to create a sound that is both distinctive and global.
Speaking with Soca News fresh from Notting Hill Carnival 2025, Tian reflects on his journey, his music, and his vision for the future of soca:
You’ve won 14 Party Monarch crowns and a Carnival Road March title. How have these achievements shaped your journey as an artist?
Antigua is a very competitive place as far as soca music, and the competition is really a platform to give artists a voice so that they can propel to the next level. I’m one example who has come through that road as far as competing over the years, building myself as a name-brand artist in Antigua and out of Antigua as well. It does help because Creole people like accolades. So when you say something like, “Hey, this is Tian Winter, multi- Party Monarch champion, Road March, whatever,” that says something. People like that type of stuff. So the accolade itself is something to be proud of, and people like that stuff — so it helps.
Since 2013, you’ve represented Antigua and Barbuda as a cultural ambassador. What does that role mean to you, and how do you carry it through your music?
This role means a lot to me because I remember when I just started doing music, and I would see the ones who have gone before me, like Burning Flames, Tizzy and Claudette. I’ve always said to myself that one day I want to be one who also represents the country on a big level. So for me, it’s an awesome feeling, and big up to the government at the time for taking that initiative and making me a cultural ambassador. And as far as the music, well, that is why I try to make music of such that I can represent my country well. That’s why I try to stay away from certain topics in soca and keep my music commercialised, so that it’s rated for everyone.
Your sound fuses soca with R&B, reggae, and pop. What inspired you to bring these genres together?
It’s how I was raised. I was raised on a lot of R&B, gospel. It was a melting pot of music, but mostly it was like R&B, gospel, soft rock — that type of stuff. So that was the music I was used to. I mean, there was dancehall here and there. There were a few calypsos that you would hear, but mostly, because I grew up in a Christian home, you wouldn’t hear the music that’s on the streets in the home. So, I had an early love for the softer type of music, R&B naturally — and also I’m a singer — I just decided, you know what, how can I be different? Let me try to fuse the sweetness and the smoothness of R&B, the little grittiness of dancehall, and see how I can find my niche within the soca industry. And it kind of worked out.
You’ve performed at major festivals including Notting Hill Carnival, Caribana, Miami Carnival, and the St. Kitts Music Festival. What has the experience of being on these international stages been like for you?
Sometimes it’s surreal, because to some people I am ‘Tian Winter,’ but to me, it’s a humbling journey knowing where I’m coming from. Even though I’m not where I want to be as yet, I’m definitely not where I was. And seeing myself on these stages, in different parts of the world, it’s a great feeling to know that I can represent my country. I was just a regular little boy from Antigua with a dream. I loved music and I just had a dream that I want to be doing music as my profession. I’m just so blessed and thankful and humble that music can take me to different parts of the world and I can do what I love and entertain people and they can enjoy and have some fulfilment as well, just as much as I do.
Your 2019 hit Do Wah You Want topped Apple Music in Antigua for more than two months. What do you think makes that song—and your music in general—connect so strongly with listeners?
In all honesty, that Do Wah You Want itself is a very special song. From the day that I received the beat and the producer sent me the beat for that song, I just knew it was different. I can’t tell you, I can’t relate to you verbally what makes it special, it’s just hearing the beat and just knowing that, this beat is different. When I received it, I said I had to do a song on that beat and Do Wah You Want is what we came up with — and the people just loved it. It was a big hit for Antigua’s Carnival 2019, and it crossed over. I also did a remix with Rock City from the Virgin Islands; it was well received as well. The people just loved it, and when people love it, they go and search it up, they listen to it over and over, and I guess that contributed to it being at number one on the Apple charts for two months.
Soca is still underrepresented in the UK compared to reggae. What do you hope to achieve during this visit, and how do you see soca’s future in the UK and globally?
Well, the mission we came on this specific Notting Hill Carnival was to promote Antigua and Barbuda as a tourist destination, to promote Antigua and Barbuda’s carnival and to promote ourselves as artists and our music. The word is that Notting Hill Carnival is the second biggest carnival in the world, and being on the road yesterday, that’s probably one of the biggest carnivals to date that I have been to. And they’re saying that it’s about 1.3 million persons on the road, and it’s definitely a majority of soca music being played on the road. So there’s definitely a market for soca music, even though some people don’t categorise it as a mainstream genre, they have it as an underground.
There’s a lot that can be accomplished once we get the right persons in the right positions to propel soca the way it needs to be. Not just only Antigua, not only Grenada, not only Trinidad, Barbuda and all the respective Caribbean islands, but if we channel or package soca music as one music in terms of one genre. Because Jamaica doesn’t have anybody to share it with, Jamaica has reggae, and Jamaica packaged reggae and dancehall, and they pushed it out, and Jamaica is doing great, as we see. Jamaican reggae and dancehall music are global; they’re recognised worldwide.
I don’t know if it’s the diversity amongst the islands that do soca music, I don’t know if it’s a situation where we all have our unique differences and people just are not up to speed on what all the differences are and what’s happening. So I can understand the slight confusion for some, but I think once we get it right and start to really package soca music as a Caribbean island collective, not just one island, we can get much further.
So I think the mission for me is to have my music reach the masses, reach the whole world. I want to have a huge international soca hit or multiple international soca hits, performing globally in countries that I can’t even pronounce. That’s the mission for me.
Is there a final word or comment you’d like to share with us?
I want to big up to the Antiguan Tourism UK branch for having us here and accommodating us. I want to big up Island Mas, Bones, for accommodating us as well and being a part of the whole experience with the J’Ouvert and the mas on the road on Monday. It was lovely, I had a ball and I would say mission accomplished. I know we still have a lot of work to do, but definitely next year, 2026 Notting Hill Carnival, we will be back for sure.
This interview was first published in the September 2025 issue of Soca News Magazine.
