Nigela St Clair-Daniel Ready for the Battlefield

“My first Global Award. We won! Thank you, Jesus” declared a post on the official Facebook page of Saint Lucian gospel singer Nigela St Clair-Daniel.

It was December 2024, and Nigela was capping off what she described as an “awesome year,” winning the Best Collaboration award for her song Battles, featuring Neesha Woodz.

While visiting Saint Lucia during the holidays, she shared her excitement with St Lucia Times about winning at the Antigua and Barbuda Global Music and Media Awards.

“I received a phone call prior, followed by an email that I had actually been nominated for this award, which came as a surprise because this is something I was not expecting. But apparently, they had heard of my music and thought I deserved to be nominated,” Nigella explained.

“There were nominees from the United States, Nigeria, the UK and the Caribbean. And so I was pretty excited to have been a Saint Lucian nominated,” she added with enthusiasm.

During the interview, it became clear that three things make Nigela light up: talking about Jesus, Gospel music, and her beloved homeland, Saint Lucia.

Not only was she delighted to have been nominated and eventually win the award, but she also had the chance to perform Battles.

“Once again, having the opportunity to just fly Saint Lucia’s flag high, meant a lot to me, especially given so many of the other successes and achievements we experienced in 2024,” the singer said, her face glowing.

She shared the story behind Battles.

“It is a song that I wrote out of an experience while in Trinidad and Tobago. I could have been, like, seriously hurt or died that night. Looking back again at, you know, the violent acts in Trinidad – so it was one of those – and I was just in the city of fear and anxiety.

“Then one night, I was just fed up and tired of being in a box and caging myself in, and at 2 a.m. I am in my hallway and saying, ‘God’ and sweating and singing ‘God is fighting my battles, He has overcome. He has overcome. Yes, yes’. I started singing it over and over,” Nigela recounted.

From there, she said, “the song just started to come out of me”.

“It was a song of victory, and after it gushed out of my mouth, there was relief and I knew that it wasn’t just another song,” the singer shared.

She later proceeded later to work on the up-tempo battle cry, soliciting the input of her friend Neesha Woodz and two producers. When the song was released, she said, the reviews were amazing.

“Since then, I have encountered so many people telling me that they too have been getting a sense of relief when they listen to the song,” Nigela said.

The gospel artist said that while she has written many other songs, she considers this one a direct cry of defiance against fear and anxiety.

“At the end of the day, we have to remember that the battle is not ours, it is the Lord’s. Yes, greater is he who is within us than he who is in the world,” she declared.

The award for Battles in December marked the culmination of a year of performances and events for Nigela. Some of the highlights were Kingdom Night headlined by Donnie McClurkin at the Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival in May, the Barbados Gospel Festival in June, and a gospel concert in Trinidad, in October, with 10 000 in attendance.

She describes her music as a Caribbean bouillon, blending various regional genres — a deliberate choice, for which she credits the Creator.

“It is a gift to be shared with audiences large and small. I have been invited to sing at prisons in Trinidad quite a few times, and whether I am singing on a big stage with 10 000 people or I am singing to prisoners or six people, I give it my all, knowing that I am simply a vessel here to minister, even if it is to one,” Nigela said.

“No matter where you are, or who you are, I believe that every single person is called with a particular purpose, every single person has a particular gift. This is mine and all I can do is just surrender everything to God and allow him to lead, direct and fight my battles,” she added.