In their latest release \u201cWonder Woman\u201d, British group WSTRN pays homage to the women in their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Produced by Afrobeats and Grime hitmaker P2J whose production credits include tracks for Beyonc\u00e9, Wizkid, Stormzy, Goldlink, Mark Ronson, and more, “Wonder Woman” fuses the group\u2019s Caribbean heritage with that of Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are paying homage to the strong, influential, beautiful women in our lives. We kinda just shining some light on them. One of the lines from the song says \u2018every light you see comes from a woman\u2019, it\u2019s paying some respect to them,\u201d said Louis Rei, one-third of the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen we were recording the song, the main message was to our mothers, to begin with, that relates to females that are important to our lives and other people\u2019s lives too. But when we hear a nice beat that we get our melodies from, that turns into words eventually,\u201d explained Haile, the other member of the group. The third is his cousin Akelle Charles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In \u201cWonder Woman\u201d, WSTRN trades their smooth R&B-type vocals for Jamaican patois to add that dancehall flavour to the track. It\u2019s something they\u2019ve done on other tracks such as \u201cTexting\u201d featuring Alkaline.https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rbfuj1_6tu8?autoplay=1&start=0&rel=0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trio, all from West London (hence the name), has Caribbean backgrounds. Akelle and Haile\u2019s parents are from Grenada and Guyana while Louis\u2019 parents are Jamaican.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSoca and reggae is where it all began. Growing up we listened to what our parents listened to and as we got older, we experimented with other songs,\u201d said Akelle, whose father was in a reggae band with Haile\u2019s dad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s in our blood,\u201d he said when asked if their fathers influenced them to start the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor me, it wasn\u2019t something I wanted to pursue from a young age, I felt like everything just fell into place, that was the right thing to do at the time and because I enjoyed doing it, it made sense,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the three friends pursued music independently, WSTRN was born out of their first collaborative jam sessions in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group made their mark that year with the release \u201cIN2\u201d, amassing over 108 million streams to date with their debut album WSTRN Season 2 following on in August 2019. Ever since the summer period has been dubbed as ‘WSTRN Season’ by fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fused together by influences that span R&B, Hip-Hop, and soul with a base of Reggae and Dancehall, WSTRN’s artistry reaches far beyond their Caribbean roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trio’s ear, thanks largely to the multicultural environment of West London, lends itself to experimenting with different soundscapes, and their releases so far attest to their worldwide appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trio, who shot the video for one of their grittier songs \u201cThey Don\u2019t Know\u201d in Bogota, Barbados said they definitely plan to do more work in the Caribbean with regional artistes, however.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They have an upcoming collab with Kranium and said they want to connect with anyone that makes sense to connect with including soca artistes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like soca artistes, WSTRN makes feel-good music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur sound is for a world filled with sunshine and it is not always sunny in England which is why it is liked by international audiences. It\u2019s feel-good music and you feel good in the sunshine,\u201d said Haile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coming from a music scene where black artistes are known more for their aggressive music such as Grime, WSTRN said it was their choice to take another path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely been a harder journey for us because we definitely come from a real place, that\u2019s a fact. But we don\u2019t feel like we have to show that side, we are just here for a good time, to bring the vibes to a dark place. We bring light to a dark place,\u201d declared Haile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always been in us, the first song we came out with was a feel-good song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WSTRN is currently putting the final touches on their new album which will include \u201cWonder Woman\u201d and an earlier release, “Be My Guest” featuring Fireboy DML.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked what they are aiming for, they said to have an impact all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Louis said: \u201cI feel like sometimes when you are in a particular territory you feel like that\u2019s the territory that you need to buss in and that\u2019s not necessarily the case. We\u2019ve had a roller coaster journey where our sound has shifted and there are different avenues taken and we have set our foundation. There\u2019s only so much we could do here because we have taken our music to the next level. It wouldn\u2019t make sense to just stay here and try to kick down this door, There are many doors open from around the world from Africa to the Caribbean, New York, Miami all these places are showing us love and it\u2019s only right to go to these places and cater to those territories and show them that we are there to make noise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow @WSTRNMusic on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In their latest release \u201cWonder Woman\u201d, British group WSTRN pays homage to the women in their lives. Produced by Afrobeats and Grime hitmaker P2J whose production credits include tracks for Beyonc\u00e9, Wizkid, Stormzy, Goldlink, Mark Ronson, and more, “Wonder Woman” fuses the group\u2019s Caribbean heritage with that of Africa. \u201cWe are paying homage to the strong, influential, beautiful women in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n