Dancehall Queen Carlene Ready To Pass The Baton And Give Away $1 Million Dollars To Next Queen
Dancehall Queen Carlene Smith has partnered with Jamaican adult beverage brand “Slowwhine” to kick start the launch of “Dancehall Queen – The Next Generation” during the current no movement days in Jamaica.
Slowhine, an adult rum mix, is owned by Whirlwind Entertainment—the same Company that owns House of Dancehall and Jamaica Online TV, so it was a natural choice for Carlene to partner with them not only to provide cash prizes but to stream worldwide for free on Apple TV, Amazon Fire Sticks, Android Apps, iOS Apps, Roku and online.
Known as the “Original Dancehall Queen”, Carlene is often credited for making fashion, female sexuality and provocative dancing a part of Dancehall in the 90s, when the genre was known primarily for its ‘rude bwoy’ antics, male bravado, and pants length and merino.
Now a generation later, she wants to take the dancehall queen concept to another level. “In the 90s, we shattered the glass ceiling with women paving the way for ladies worldwide to earn a living from their talent and fashion. Now, I want to take them to another level, from gracing magazine covers, having modelling contracts, acting careers and international brand ambassadorships. Now that we broke through the glass ceiling, women must now reach for the skies. I will use my contacts and experience to help take them there,” Carlene explained.
“This innovative competition will not just be about dancing at all. My judges and I are looking for the young woman who has extensive dancehall knowledge, is fashion savvy, and can represent our country well. She will need to be the complete package” says Carlene. “The interactive nature of this program will revolutionize how contests are done in the future.”
Michael Dawson CEO of Whirlwind Entertainment, the parent company of Slowhine, believes persons in the Dancehall industry are always considered to be reckless and irresponsible. Therefore, it was important to him to offer “free stay at home” entertainment and for Whirlwind to help do their part in adherence to government measures imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19.
“With the new restrictions in place set by the government it is now a little hard for us to execute all that we have planned, but our team has decided that we will launch our promotions digitally.” He added that the promotions will kick with free episodes of popular live show “Sex and Dancehall – The Lockdown Edition” as well as consistent promotion and announcements on all the brand social media pages.
Dawson also expressed Slowhine’s complete support of the venture and how critical it is to the Jamaican culture. “Slowhine has always been a supporter of the dancehall industry and this initiative is no different.”
The contest will be primarily filmed at the Company’s studios – Marketplace Entertainment Centre for the Arts (MECA, the same venue which houses popular events such as Triple Thursday’s, 658 and Elite Saturday’s so the vibe should be extraordinary.
The Dancehall Queen contest is slated to launch before the end of this year. the public can follow Slowhine on Instagram for further updates.