Trinidad and Tobago independent senator Helon Francis has been crowned the 2025 Calypso Monarch. He won the title in the early hours of the morning with his song “To Whom It May Concern”, in a fiercely contested competition. Last year’s winner, Machel Montano, placed fifth with “Bet Meh”.
Kurt Allen, known as “The Last Badjohn of Calypso,” secured second place with “Your Turn Now”, while crowd favorite Yung Bredda (Akhenaton Lewis) earned third place with “We Rise.”
This marks Francis’s second Calypso Monarch win, having previously won in 2018 with his nation-building song “Change.” For his victory, Francis received a grand prize of one million dollars, which includes $700,000 in cash and a car valued at $300,000. Allen received TT $500,000, and Yung Bredda took home $350,000.
The competition was full of elaborate performances, with many contestants using props and dancers to impress the judges. Squeezy staged a funeral for “mama good good son,” while both Montano and Allen incorporated game show themes to enhance their acts. In a dramatic moment, Montano, the newly crowned Chutney Soca Monarch, even levitated using cables. However, his performance seemed to suffer due to the demands of a hectic season and the performances leading up to the competition.
Here are the full results:
- Helon Francis – To Whom it May Concern
- Kurt Allen – Your Turn Now
- Yung Bredda (Akhenaton Lewis) – We Rise
- Karene Ashe – Ah Leader
- Machel Montano – Bet Meh
- Roderick “Chucky” Gordon – Look to Press
- Ta’zyah O’Connor – Kaiso to the World
- Terri Lyons – Ask Yuh Man
- Rikki Jai – Kaiso Chutney
- Squeezy Rankin (Anthony La Fleur) – Justice
- Roslyn Reid – Sing it in Kaiso
- Twiggy (Ann Marie Parks-Kojo) – 65 and Still Relevant
