SO sweet!
Four years into her soca career, Anika Berry believes she has found her breakout song. Gracing the Tilden Hall Riddim alongside Machel Montano, Lyrikal, Yung Bredda, Voice and Motto, her tune Saddle is blazing trails.
The singer, who proudly calls herself “d sweetest berry” is from New York in the US, but her parents are from Trinidad and Tobago.
With songs like Ginger, Lash Up, Jammin, ATM and Romance, among others, she is gradually building her catalogue.
In a 2023 interview with Newsday, she had described her sound as “old-school” woven with new-era flavours.”
And Saddle is a perfect example of that.
Jason “Shaft” Bishop wrote it and De Red Boyz produced the entire riddim.
She actually got sent the demo and riddim while at her main job as a nurse. Bishop, who she has been working with since 2022, told her she had two days to send back a recording.
“We were also working on another unreleased song, then he sent this. And I thought, ‘How am I supposed to learn this in two days?’” she recalled, laughing.
“Normally, I take a week to really learn a song. But for some reason, the song just stuck with me immediately. I recorded it the next day, I felt comfortable with it, and I had to deliver it.”
Upon submitting it, she thought the rest of the team would request “a few tweaks here and there…
“But they took it right away.”
[caption id="attachment_1137877" align="alignnone" width="683"] Anika Berry describes her sound as old-school woven with new-era flavours. - Photo courtesy Isaiah Phillip[/caption]
In the brass-filled track, she warns men her wine “ain’t no easy ride,” so they should take their time “before (yuh) fall off d saddle.”
She said she was aware it was a riddim but only knew of Voice, Motto, Lyrikal and Yung Bredda as being featured.
“I knew I was the only woman and I thought, ‘These are big names. How will they (listeners) receive my song as a newer artiste?’”
Soon after, she learnt Montano was also on the riddim and, “I was like, ‘Wow, this is huge! I’m on the same riddim as Machel,’” she said in a cheerful tone.
She met up with him in Miami and out of pure excitement, told him that she’s going to be on the same riddim as him.
“He said, ‘I know,’ and I was so surprised. He had already heard the song and he told me he loved it.”
Once the riddim was out, she said the feedback to her track was great, which was boosted by a visualiser/music video.
The visualiser has over 221,000 views on YouTube, while the audio has near 10,000 listens on that platform.
[caption id="attachment_1137878" align="alignnone" width="683"] Anika Berry's song Saddle is gracing the Tilden Hall Riddim alongside Machel Montano, Lyrikal, Yung Bredda, Voice and Motto. - Photo courtesy Isaiah Phillip[/caption]
She has performed at several fetes for the 2025 Carnival season so far like Xperience, MAS: The Experience, Soka In Moka and Berry Brunch. Compared to other places, she said performing in TT is “a different experience."
“I always laugh and say, if you could perform here, you co
