Stacious took top honours in the 55th staging of the Jamaica Festival Song Competition held at the National Indoor Sports Centre in St Andrew on Thursday evening.

With her winning entry Jamaica Spirit, she became the fourth female to win the annual song contest.

She told the Jamaica Observer that she was very strategic with her song:

“I definitely hoped for the win, and I was confident that somebody would be able to identify and understand my thought process when I did a song, which was not the usual festival song with the usual mento sound. I was hopeful that somebody else would want a change and would appreciate a different sound,” she said.

“I intentionally stayed away from the norm and tried to give them options,” she continued.

For her victory, she was awarded a cash prize of $3 million to be shared among the producer, writer, and singer.

Other previous female winners of the contest are: Heather Grant in 1992; Abby Dallas (2012); and, Cheryl “Chetenge” Clarke (1999).

Stacious used the opportunity to laud her 11 other contestants.

“A big congratulations to Tamo J, DB, and all the other contestants; they’re super talented. There was good variety of songs this year and a lot of options to choose from. It was a pleasure sharing the stage with them,” she said.

DB took second place with Love Jamaica My Land, and also won the Best Performer trophy for his spirited performance, while Tamo J placed third with Real Talk.

“I want to take this opportunity to tell the organisers, JCDC [Jamaica Cultural Development Commission], thanks, and, of course, Minister “Babsy” Grange and all of the sponsors that came on board. Thank you for everybody that voted, thank you; for everybody that reposted and supported, thank you,” Stacious added.

The other finalists were: I-Octane ( Land We Love); Lutan Fyah (Jah Mek Yah); backing band Fab 5 (Unwind); Althea Hewitt (Jamaica Nice); 2011 Jamaica Festival Song Competition winner Everton Pessoa (Celebration – Wet Sugar); Dez-I Boyd (Rumba Box); Reggae Maxx (Sweet Jamaica); Candy ( Birthday Bash JA); and Father Reece ( Jamaican Talawah).

The televised event also saw performances from Dwight Richards as well as four-time festival song winner Roy Rayon, as well as a tribute to the competition’s first winner Frederick “Toots” Hibbert and its conceptualiser former Prime Minister Edward Seaga.

Hibbert died on September 11, 2020 of complications due to COVID-19 in the University Hospital of the West Indies. He was 77. Seaga, 89, passed away in Florida of natural causes on May 29, 2019.