Come back, come back: it’s WSTRN, not WRSTND…

[Video][Website]
[5.00]

Scott Mildenhall: It does provide the requisite affirmative to question one on the 2015 chart R&B flow-diagram — “could it be Jeremih?” — but this nonetheless sounds slightly out of step. It’s guitar-centric! It’s by an unknown, male, UK R&B three-piece! Not even guitar bands can get guitars into the top 40 these days, never mind the top 5, so the success of “In2” is a curious achievement. It’s easy to see the appeal of its languid-but-not-torpid ways, but with that it suffers from what no one calls the hypnotic-narcotic problem. If you like it, it could be beguiling, but, if not, it could just sound very, very dull.
[5]

Jonathan Bogart: Lovely low-key hip-hop ballad that I took the whole first verse to realize was British. Which says nothing, probably, about the song, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was an intended effect.
[6]

Thomas Inskeep: The dream of the ’90s is still alive in the UK’s R&B young guns, apparently. This could be Dru Hill, Another Level… take your pick.
[3]

Will Adams: WSTRN have charm, and their producers have more than a few tricks up their sleeves to enliven the R&Bass genre (namely those guitar strums). I’m skeptical of any song this smooth with a “you know you want me” premise, though.
[5]

Iain Mew: “In2” is persuasion as showcase, a loping beat backing a tour of the capabilities of three voices speaking the same message in different ways. It’s not a particularly great message, but that almost makes it more impressive, in a way. Haile sings the fluttery chorus with exactly the right level of confidence, Louis Rei raps like a cheekier Wretch 32, and the two of them join up well. Akelle kind of awkwardly splits the difference while getting in a plug for his Instagram account, but even his verse adds to the pleasing relaxed variety of it all.
[6]

Alfred Soto: A R&B trio supposedly recorded this UK top five hit, but it’s closer to boy band dynamics, with quick cuts between singers when their physical range disappoints their emotional one. Not unpleasant, not worth lingering on.
[5]