Why WSTRN Deserve To Be In The ‘Great British Bands’ Conversation
Written by SOURCE on November 5, 2021
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Oasis. One Direction. Take That. The Beatles. One word: iconic. Very few male bands from the UK have managed to break as much ground as them, and despite them all being defunct today, their timeless pop and rock songs/albums have been stitched into the fabric of Britain. However, with the commercial success of Black British music over the past five years, it’s about time another name was added to the list of ‘Great British Bands’.
The Afroswing boom of the mid-2010s, whose positioning was helped by a newly-revived grime scene, brought with it a new generation of talent—some of whom are considered bonafide pop stars today. While many came in on one wave and left on another to maintain chart dominance and relevance, not many have been able to find that winning formula. Luckily for West London outfit WSTRN, that hasn’t been the case. Starting out as solo artists, singers Haile and Akelle and rapper Louis Rei reentered the scene as a group in 2015, with their infectious debut single “In2”, which is now a double-platinum hit. Over the years, the trio have shown nothing but growth, collectively and individually, and have refined their sound—a seamless blend of R&B, rap, dancehall and Afrobeats—along the way.
WSTRN have yet to release a bad song, and that’s no exaggeration. Even when Akelle went to prison in 2017 on a violent disorder charge, Haile and Louis truly held it down and dropped a widely rated mixtape titled Double 3AK, not to mention selling out tours as a duo. Where some would have faltered with a member missing, WSTRN kept the momentum going—whether it was through Haile lending catchy hooks to other rappers, or Louis Rei’s freestyling on platforms like Daily Duppy, they wern’t out of the spotlight for too long.
Now reunited, WSTRN are back and better than ever. A quick scroll through the comment section under their music videos will see fans complaining that WSTRN are underrated. In coming up at the pivotal moment in Black British music that they did and taking in all their influences, WSTRN are not only one of the best UK bands for their perfect melodies and attention to detail, but also because they perfectly encapsulate the evolution of Black music in the UK, with their fingers always on the pulse and their ears always to the streets.
Here are a few more reasons why we should all consider WSTRN to be one of the greatest UK bands of all time…
