Lady Lava may have dominated the night with four wins, including female soca artist of the year and zess song of the year (“Bob the Builder”), but the fourth annual Caribbean Music Awards certainly avoided clean sweeps.
Co-hosted by Majah Hype and soca star Nailah Blackman at Trinidad & Tobago’s National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) in Port of Spain on Sept. 18, this year’s Caribbean Music Awards marked the first time the ceremony took place in its namesake region. The official broadcast premiered on the official Caribbean Music Awards YouTube page on Oct. 25, delivering a star-studded celebration of the biggest and brightest stars across the contemporary Caribbean music scene.
This year, several new categories were added to the ceremony’s sprawling lineup, including much-needed spotlights of fast-rising genres like bouyon, jab and Dennery segment. Billboard’s Kyle Denis hosted a red carpet livestream on the ground in Trinidad, catching up with a bevy of stars, including eventual winners Kes and Ayetian, as well as the night’s biggest victor, Lady Lava.
Outside of Lava, several other acts took home multiple trophies at this year’s ceremony. Trinidadian brother production duo Full Blown took home three awards, including soca song of the year for “The Greatest Bend Over” (with Yung Bredda) and soca video of the year for “Good Spirits.” They tied as this year’s second-most awarded act alongside pop-dancehall princess Shenseea and French-Haitian konpa singer Joé Dwèt Filé, who swept the konpa and French-Caribbean fields with his smash hit “4 Kampé.” Skillibeng, Kes, V’ghn, Lila Iké, Masicka, Moliy, Ayetian, Silent Addy, and Ravi B also snagged multiple awards.
In addition to over 50 competitive awards, several Caribbean music legends were honored for their timeless contributions to the culture. Billboard Hot 100-charting reggae and dancehall queen Patra earned the Lifetime Achievement Award; Victoire de la Musique winner Calypso Rose received the Elite Calypso Award; konpa giant Alan Cavé scored the Elite Konpa Award; and Belizean-born, Brooklyn-bred hip-hop and political icon Shyne snagged the Global Ambassador Award.
While the ceremony certainly had its heartwarming moments, there were also quite a few head-scratchers. Here are six of the biggest snubs and surprises from the fan-voted 2026 Caribbean Music Awards.
