What the women want to know: 10 questions with Meguella Simon

Sunday, 26 November was the 2023 CCR Gospelypso competition and at the end of the night, Meguella Simon emerged the winner with her powerful rendition of ‘May Day!’. Megeulla took time out of her busy schedule to answer ten questions with us.

1. What was the name of your composition?

May Day!

2. What parish do you identify with right now?

I attend Mass in various parishes but presently I most identify with La Romaine RC Church.

3. What inspired you?

Well, last year someone asked me to participate and I won but this year, I was really inspired by the theme Catholics on Fire for Christ. I really wanted to send a powerful message.

4. What made you choose this topic to sing about?

Whenever I would go to church, I would always hear Fr Grell talking about “Catholics missing that fire”. At first, I wrote this particular piece for my daughter to encourage other young people because she also participated in the junior competition. I thought it would be a good song to reach the post-Confirmation youths but she was not feeling it. So, I did a retake and fixed it up for me

5. What was your initial reaction when you found out that you won the competition?

I was genuinely surprised. I thought that most of the performers did really well and also knew of both Eric and Tiny’s ability, so I thought it was a stiff competition.

6. What do you think sets your entry apart from the other competitors?

I tried to write something that would resonate with everyone in the audience. I was asking people to search themselves and I think everyone connected with that. I was also very, very passionate about the topic.

7. Did you face any challenges while preparing for the competition and if so how did you overcome them?

We had so many challenges! Mostly because I was involved in so many other things so time management was a factor. I also wrote my daughter’s piece and it was challenging trying to ensure I created two good songs on the same theme for the same competition. I also wanted to use this as an opportunity to evangelise by getting persons from the different parishes that I work with to attend but I was not very successful with that. I feel I was able to overcome my obstacles because my support system was strong. My family and the young people from my church came out for me. My dancer was a student of mine from Mayaro whom I taught to dance many years ago. My back-up singers were also a wonderful support.

8. Are there any individuals or resources that you would like to credit for helping you to achieve this win?

Well, first of all, credit goes to Father Jason Grell. He was my inspiration from all his homilies on the topic. My family was a tremendous support. All my supporters who came out from the various parishes that I have attended; my mother; my daughter; my boyfriend: all of them give me so much support to help to make that success come true.

9. What was the most rewarding part of participating in this competition?

Many of the rewards came before the actual final night because we went to other parishes to perform such as Gasparillo. That was my first time and then I was asked to perform at another event in Gasparillo. Right after that someone from Grenada saw my performance and ask me to come to Grenada in December. I’ve never been to Grenada before so I believe all of this happened for me to evangelise and this is helping me to spread a message, which is what I wanted to do.

10. What do you hope to achieve next and know that you have won this competition?

I hope that the energy and drive should move throughout the parishes. After winning two times, people start to listen to you so I want to use my voice to inspire young people to explore their talents.