White chocolate ‘sweet fuh days’ - ‘Wire-waist’ influencer parties at Caribbean’s major carnivals
Published:Friday | August 16, 2019 | 12:11 AMStephanie Lyew/Gleaner Writer
The sound of Patrice Roberts’ Sweet Fuh Days chimes in, and then, almost instantly, the ‘pumping’ of White Chocolate’s waistline starts. Persons may question the name ‘White Chocolate’, but Josh Butler welcomes the moniker and is, in every sense, a delightful, sweet, and smooth serving of the confection.
Butler earned the sobriquet ‘White Chocolate’ while in the Eastern Caribbean island of St Lucia.
“While in St Lucia for an internship, I would explore the various events and local parties, where I would just do my thing, that is, express and enjoy myself through dance. Then I realised that people were constantly crowding around me while dancing, taking photographs and video, so I thought, ‘why not try and do something with this’,” Butler told The Gleaner when we caught up with him in Barbados at Crop Over.
He added, “The first time I went on a stage, the host introduced me as ‘White Chocolate’. From there, the name just stuck, and, soon enough, everyone was calling me by that.”
The popular social-media figure currently has close to 100,000 followers on Instagram and has since been the highlight of fêtes in St Lucia and Barbados. He describes both islands’ carnivals as playgrounds or, better yet, movies with a climax beyond what words can explain.
“St Lucia’s carnival is always good, and for my first experience, Barbados was lit. Crop Over, as a whole, was pure vibes,” he said. “Out of all eight events that I attended in the week leading up to Grand Kadooment Day, I don’t have one bad word to say. The people were very friendly, and ‘stooshness’ was nowhere to be seen.”
White Chocolate credits the large Caribbean community, in particular the Jamaicans, at his home in the United Kingdom with playing a major role in his introduction to Caribbean music.
“I was first introduced to dancehall from as early as high school, and my introduction to soca came a little later. But still it, was before visiting St Lucia. I would definitely say I started properly dancing to it when I was on the island. There is a video of me dancing to soca when I was about 16, but that will never be revealed to the public,” he stated.
With an intrinsic love for Caribbean culture, Butler is already making plans for his next trip to Barbados and has expressed interest in taking an adventurous leap to Jamaica for carnival next year.
“In terms of expanding my reach on social media, the first step is to continue attending carnivals worldwide. I also have some other exciting things in the pipeline, too,” he shared.
Does he get exhausted from all the fanfare and partying?
“Ha ha, funnily enough, yes I do,” he admitted.
Still, the screams of ‘White Chocolate’ in the streets of Barbados only fuel his wild side, causing the skins and waistlines of female masqueraders to catch fire.
“I like to do crazy stuff – climb on top of walls to wine, run up and down the road, and the list goes on. So sometimes I want to take a little break, but even standing on the side of the road does not give me enough time to catch my breath. A lot of the time, girls will keep coming to me asking for a wine, and what am I going to do, tell them no? Absolutely not,” he declared.
He does not consider himself one of social media’s biggest influencers, but the numbers have shown that he is trending among millennials.
“I am just a normal person,” he insisted.
It is safe to say that he is a normal person, but with a signature ‘wire waist’ a charming personality and the energy of a thousand suns, he is special.