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Dressed in an angelic white gown with a neckline woven in a delicate lattice of pearls, Destra Garcia stepped into a different kind of spotlight—emerging through clouds to open her first gospel concert, Reflections, with a psalm and a prayer.

The Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s, stage glowed with reverence and restraint on Saturday night. This wasn’t the Destra known on Carnival stages around the world as the Queen of Bakannal. This was the Destra that grew up under the roof of a Baptist reverend and a deaconess mother — the Destra who, as she said, “starts most mornings with gospel tunes.”

Backed by a crisp five-piece band and choir, Destra offered up an unfiltered version of herself, beginning with a stirring rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Look to You.” Her voice soared, dipped, and fluttered into falsetto, finding grace in restraint. Yolanda Adams’ “Open My Heart” followed, with Destra declaring: “God is the boss, so right now I’m going to open my heart and let it all sink in.”