Pray Without Words Keeps Justin Willis Between Alt Rock, Bhangra and Lofi
A 2020 Wolverhampton Collaboration with Brooke Nickerson and Manny Khaira Finds New Listeners
Pray Without Words came out on 15 July 2020, and six years later it is still being pitched to editors. The credit line reads Justin Willis, Brooke Nickerson and Manny Khaira. The genre line reads alternative rock, bhangra and lofi hip hop beats. Those two facts explain each other.
You can listen to our full playlist which contains the artist’s music, and know more about the artist’s work by scrolling down the page.
What Pray Without Words Actually Puts Together
Take the genre list at face value, because it is the point of the record. Alternative rock brings the guitars and the song structure. Bhangra brings a rhythmic tradition built on the dhol, and a very different sense of where a beat should land. Lofi hip hop beats bring the tempo down and add the room tone.
Those three rarely share a session. British-Asian crossover records have existed for decades, but they usually pick a side. Either a rock band borrows a rhythm, or a bhangra producer borrows a guitar. Putting all three in one track means committing to none of them.
That was a hard sell in 2020 and it is an easier one now, which may be why the track keeps resurfacing. Genre-agnostic listening is the default today. A record filed under three headings has three doors rather than one problem.
Three Names On One Credit, And Why That Matters
The Spotify entry credits all three artists rather than one lead with guests. Justin Willis is the Wolverhampton end of it, and his own pages describe him as an alternative rock artist, producer, performer and songwriter. Brooke Nickerson and Manny Khaira hold their own artist pages too, so this reads as a genuine three-way credit.
Willis has kept working since. His site currently trails a new album, The Butterfly Zoo Resurrection, which arrived in June 2026. Pushing a back catalogue track alongside new work is a normal move, and here it is a defensible one, because Pray Without Words is the least categorisable thing in it.
“The inspiration behind Pray Without Words was to break down musical boundaries and create something truly unique that speaks to people on multiple levels,” said Justin Willis.
RapStar.News curator team: “Crossover records usually get filed under whichever genre the writer knows best, and then they vanish. This one avoided that because nobody could file it cleanly. Six years on it still sounds like a decision rather than a trend, and a hip hop audience can enter it through the beats without needing to care about the guitars.”
Wolverhampton, Crossover, And A Long Tail
The West Midlands is a sensible birthplace for this particular mixture. Wolverhampton and neighbouring Birmingham hold long-established Punjabi communities alongside a rock and metal history. Those two scenes have shared streets for generations without always sharing a stage.
Coverage at the time reflected the confusion in a useful way. MangoWave listed the track in its discoveries round-up and described it plainly as alternative rock crossover from Wolverhampton, England. Barstool Music UK also picked it up for radio play.
Neither write-up ran long. Both were early, and both filed it as a curiosity worth hearing, which is roughly where it still sits.
Listeners Who Keep Cornershop And Panjabi MC In Rotation
Pray Without Words is aimed at a listener who already enjoys the collision, and three names mark that territory.
Cornershop are the closest structural match. They built indie guitar songs on Punjabi language and instrumentation and took one to number one in the UK, which proves this fusion can be a song rather than a novelty. Panjabi MC is the bhangra reference, and the reason a global audience recognises a dhol pattern at all. Nujabes covers the third corner, because his records defined what people now mean by lofi hip hop beats, unhurried and built from loops.
If those three coexist on your shelf, this track will not sound strange. If they do not, it is a good introduction to why they should.
Where To Stream Pray Without Words And Follow Justin Willis
Pray Without Words has been on streaming since July 2020, and the player above is the track itself.
Follow Justin Willis on X and Facebook, watch on his YouTube channel or Vimeo, and head to the official site for the new album and live dates.
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