2022
Bouyon Water
Bouyon Song of the Year DMA — signature track
CA
Bouyon artist · Bouyon Queen · major figure of female Bouyon
Carlyn XP
In 2016, Carlyn XP — civilly Carlyn Xavier-Phillip, from Giraudel, Dominica — wins the Bouyon Monarch. It's the first edition won by a female voice on the modern scene of the genre. The next year, she does it again. headlines: "Carlyn XP Proves She Is Bouyon Soca Monarch For A Second Year". Two consecutive carnivals on the supreme Dominican Bouyon title: that's what seals her Bouyon Queen nickname. In January 2020, she releases "Foreigner" with Edday — produced by Cornell Phillip, WCK founder. During the pandemic, she launches Musical Therapy, a weekly virtual show that keeps the link with her audience.
- Role
- Bouyon artist · Bouyon Queen · major figure of female Bouyon
- Origin
- Giraudel, Dominica
- Period
- 2010s-present
- Territories
- Dominica · Caribbean · Guadeloupe
Why this profile matters
In 2022, at the inaugural Dominica Music Awards, Carlyn XP sweeps five awards the same night: Female Artist of the Year, Bouyon Song of the Year ("Bouyon Water"), Female Soca Song of the Year, Female Cadence Song of the Year, Best Music Video — Bouyon ("Soundboy"). No other female artist has hit that score at the DMAs. For Bouyon, it's consolidation: the genre doesn't just have a King (Asa Banton, Goodwill Ambassador 2020), it also has a Queen. Her place in the "Women of Bouyon" story is central: before her, women in Bouyon were mostly collective (Gaza Girls Crew in Guadeloupe, 2010-2012). After her comes the 2020+ wave: Holly G, Faithii / Bouyon Barbie, Theodora, MiiMii KDS, Totally Spice's. Carlyn XP is the hinge between the collective era and the mainstream era.
Verified timeline
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First consolidated public presence on the Dominican carnival scene. Builds her female Bouyon voice before the 2016 crown.
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Wins the Bouyon Monarch title — first edition won by a female artist on the modern scene of the genre.
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Wins the Bouyon Soca Monarch title a second time — la presse caribéenne headlines "Carlyn XP Proves She Is Bouyon Soca Monarch For A Second Year".
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Releases "Foreigner" with Edday (January 2020, Cornell Phillip production) — Gwada ↔ Dominica bridge. Launches Musical Therapy during the Covid period (weekly virtual show).
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Wins five awards at the inaugural Dominica Music Awards — Female Artist of the Year, Bouyon Song of the Year ("Bouyon Water"), Female Soca Song of the Year, Female Cadence Song of the Year, Best Music Video — Bouyon ("Soundboy").
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Catalogue continues to circulate in carnival playlists, notably in the la plateforme caribéenne Dominica Carnival Starter Pack.
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Remains cited at the center of the "Women of Bouyon" narrative with Holly G, Theodora, MiiMii KDS, Totally Spice's, Faithii, Gaza Girls — historical pillar before the 2024+ female wave.
Tracks / markers
2022
Soundboy
Best Music Video — Bouyon 2022 DMA
2020
Foreigner
with Edday — Cornell Phillip production, Gwada ↔ Dominica bridge
2020
Musical Therapy
weekly virtual show — pandemic resilience
2016-2017
Bouyon Monarch 2016+2017
consecutive carnival title — foundation of the "Bouyon Queen" nickname
Related chapters
Sources
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Dominica News Online — Bouyon Monarch 2016
2016 Bouyon Monarch crown — first institutional female Bouyon recognition.
https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/news/culture/carnival/in-pictures-bouyon-monarch-2016/ -
Soca News — Carlyn XP Bouyon Soca Monarch 2017
2017 Bouyon Soca Monarch crown — second consecutive year.
https://socanews.com/news/carlyn-xp-proves-she-is-bouyon-soca-monarch-for-a-second-year/ -
Dominica Festivals — Carlyn XP
Official profile — Bouyon Monarch, Musical Therapy, Fanatik, C Square.
https://dominicafestivals.com/2022/03/29/carlyn-xp/ -
Dominica News Online — Carlyn XP at DMA 2022
Details of the five 2022 DMA awards (Female Artist, Bouyon Song, Female Soca, Female Cadence, Best Music Video).
https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/carlyn-xp-followed-by-asa-bantan-and-sour-sour-cops-most-awards-at-dma-encourages-fellow-artists-to-keep-pushing-forward/ -
The Sun Dominica — Xpilious
Article on the five 2022 DMAs and the Bouyon Queen institutional role.
https://sundominica.com/articles/xpilious-6629/ -
YouTube — Edday × Carlyn XP « Foreigner » (prod. Cornell Phillip)
January 2020 official clip — Gwada ↔ Dominica bridge with Cornell Phillip production.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTKLaiRgrLc -
Audiomack — Dominica Carnival Starter Pack
Carnival playlist containing Carlyn XP's 2024-2026 circulating catalogue.
https://audiomack.com/carnival/playlist/dominica-carnival-starter-pack
Profiles linked by musical collaboration
ED
Bouyon artist
Edday
Edday — real name Eddy Vanerot — is one of the solo voices of the Gwada Bouyon transition. As early as 2019, he dropped "Ouu La La" with Reo and "Ti KoKa" with Bilix, LaRose and VJ Ben — two singles that anchored the transition. Six years later, "You Mad" 2025 with Reo, DJ Luchshiy and Jixels confirms he's still part of the chain linking the pre and post New Bouyon Wave eras.
CO
Keyboardist · producer · WCK sonic architect
Cornell Phillip
In 1988, in Grand Bay, Dominica, a young keyboardist takes the boumboum bass of jing ping and translates it into aggressive bass synth. He takes the syak and shifts it into TR-505 drum machine programming. The accordion becomes a keyboard pad. That technical move — apparently simple — is the founding act of Bouyon. Cornell "Fingers" Phillip has just invented the sonic grammar of a genre. He co-founds WCK the same year. In 1995, he opens Imperial Publishing studio. In 2007, he forms Fanatik. Thirty-two years later, in January 2020, he is still producing: Edday's "Foreigner" with Carlyn XP.
WC
Foundational Bouyon group
WCK
In 1988, in a Grand Bay studio in Dominica, a band plugs in a TR-505 drum machine and invents a music genre without knowing it. Gordon Henderson's cadence-lypso, the jing ping played by elders on accordion and syak, the carnival lapo kabwit, the dancehall arriving through sound systems — everything runs through the same machine and the same keyboard. The result has a name: Bouyon. WCK — Windward Caribbean Kulture — lays the first brick with the "Work It Out (Bouyon Remix)" inside the "One More Sway" album of 1988. Two years later, "Culture Shock" installs the sound inside the Dominican carnival. The historical core: Derek "Rah" Peters on drums, Cornell "Fingers" Phillip on keyboards, Mr Delly on memory voice, Skinny Banton on the bouyon-muffin color.
HO
Female group · Gwada Bouyon
Holly G
2021, Holly G drops "Bandit" and lands a strong female voice in Gwada Bouyon. Three years later, she's nominated at the BET Awards 2024 in the Best New International Act category — first Guadeloupean artist at that level. In between: her feature on "Je l'ai vu" with Arendi and VJ Ben, then her collab with Theodora on "Coller la petite" in 2025. A trajectory paving the way for Bouyon's global crossover.
MR
Artist · producer · entrepreneur
Mr Ridge
Mr Ridge — real name Coleridge Bell, Dominican from Newtown — puts his hands on a keyboard at 11. His training: Dominican classical music, schooled by First Serenade, WCK, Belles Combo and Midnight Groovers. In 2018, he drops "Riddim Tonight", his first solo single. Six years later, he wins the very first Bouyon Artist of the Year at the 2024 Caribbean Music Awards. The next year, he keeps the crown and also takes Bouyon Producer 2025. Around him, through Cross D Bridge, run Money Shaun, J-Lion, NICE, Sukie, Pudaz, Dirty Dawg Pudaz, 1T1. With 207,000 monthly Spotify listeners, he's among the most-streamed Bouyon artists worldwide. His stated goal, told to la presse dominicaine: take Bouyon to the world stage.