Over the last few weeks, Destra Garcia and SLAM 100.5 personality Akil “5StarAkil” Borneo have been fueling speculation about their relationship after suggestive tweets between the two started piquing everyone’s attention. This was further compounded when photos of the two holding hands and cuddling appeared on Facebook and BBM broadcasts. Well Metro has finally learned the true story behind the seeming romance. Breaking her silence for the first time, Destra has confirmed that there is no romantic connection between her and 5Star. In fact, the DJ is the star of Destra’s new video for You Give Good Love, which was shot over the last few weeks in various locations around Trinidad, including Maracas Bay and St Clair Private Hospital. 5Star plays Destra’s love interest in the video, which was shot by Cowin “Dori” Thorpe, and the duo maintained their personas over social media to create anticipation in the run up to the video release.
Speaking to Metro at her El Dorado home where she still lives happily with her boyfriend/manager Brian Morris and daughter Xaiya, Destra said local videos are often launched without much hype around them and she wanted to create some excitement for her avid followers on Twitter. “Those who know me know I am not that type of girl,” she said of the speculation that she left her partner to go with another man. The video has just been one of the many projects Destra has been working on for the summer. In addition to that, the singer has been in studio recording for her 2013 album and rehearsing for a jam-packed tour schedule over the next two months. This period is turning out to be her busiest since she gave birth to her daughter two years ago. “I think everything is going back to normal since I had the baby,” she said, attributing the reputation of her shows to the increased bookings. Among the places she will be travelling with her band are: Barbados, Guyana, St Barts, Antigua, London, the US and Belgium.
While many of her performances will take place before a West Indian audience, some of them will take her completely out of her element such as her performances at Rutgers University and the Borough of Manhattan Community College which she described as amazing. “There were some Haitians and Jamaicans in the crowd but they don’t listen to soca. You have to change your whole psyche in those situations; you have to adapt. I brought people on stage to wine with me, it was good, they thought I rocked,” she recalled. July/August has been traditionally quiet months on the home front for most artists who earn a living traveling around to various Carnivals and other events to perform. But increasingly, many soca artistes have been releasing new music during this period and Destra is one of them. Apart from You Give Good Love, she has two other songs which she released recently: Carry On and Rough Stuff. Carry On was made for St Lucia’s Carnival and has good crossover potential for this market, while Rough Stuff is a CropOver tune produced by Platta studio on the Sample Mania Riddim. Destra also has a song for Vincy Mas tentatively called Wild Out. Over the summer she might release one other, a dancehall tune.
The songs will all be contained in her as yet untitled album, which she hopes to release later this year to get an early jump on the relatively short Carnival season. Metro got an exclusive listen to some of the unmastered tracks that will be on the album including a collaboration with a Jamaican artiste and some instrumentals for her requisite pan songs, which has earned Destra respect among the pan fraternity. She spoke with enthusiasm about the album, which will be her tenth, and the recordings, which have been taking place all over the Caribbean including Jamaica. Destra credits her 40-day fasting during Lent for refueling her passion for what she does following a stressful Carnival season. During that time she had to deal with the loss of her childhood home in Laventille, which burnt down. Her family now lives mere houses away from her. In preparation for the hectic two months ahead and the equally hectic Carnival season she envisages, Destra has been working out like crazy, adding swimming to her already grueling workout regime. Between her touring, recording, filming, exercising and taking care of her daughter Destra is super busy but she would have it no other way.
