Love Remain shares ‘Is What It Is’ EP, reveals poignant tribute song to Gboyega Odubanjo

love-remain-shares-‘is-what-it-is’-ep,-reveals-poignant-tribute-song-to-gboyega-odubanjo
Love Remain shares ‘Is What It Is’ EP, reveals poignant tribute song to Gboyega Odubanjo

Love Remain has released a new EP, ‘Is What It Is’, featuring a tribute to the late Gboyega Odubanjo as its opening track. The anonymous producer used the poet’s vocals from ‘LDN GRLS – Gboyega’s Theme’. The EP was released this week. A year ago, Odubanjo was reported missing at Shambala Festival. Days later, he was found dead by police, with no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death. 

The family’s fundraising campaign has aimed to continue Odubanjo’s legacy, supporting low-income black writers. A major part of his legacy was his work as a Roundhouse Resident Artist, and he was also an editor at the Bath Magg poetry magazine. In 2021, Odubanjo won the Eric Gregory Award for his New Poets Prize Pamphlet, Aunty Uncle Poems. His pamphlet While I Yet Live was published by Bad Betty Press in 2019. Odubanjo was studying for a PhD in creative writing at the University of Hertfordshire during his final days and was working on an upcoming collection based on the unsolved murder of an unidentified boy found in the River Thames in 2001. 

“I was sitting on the instrumental for about a year, then during a studio session, I had an idea that only yega would really get, his energy was the light that the song needed, and it came at a time when we were both in a place of Joy, we had so much fun throughout the process of putting it together, and they are memories I will cherish forever”, shared Love Remain, referring to the making of the track with colleague Odubanjo. The producer went on to express gratitude at having created something representative of the place they were in when they made ‘LDN GRLS – Gboyega’s Theme’ and documenting their friendship. 

To honour Odubanjo’s memory, Love Remain tributes his friend on new EP, ‘Is What It Is’. The opening track titled after the late British-Nigerian writer and poet, states it means so much to the producer because his energy was the light that the song needed. Odubanjo was an editor at Bath Magg and a resident artist at Roundhouse. His presence continues to be felt through his legacy, as his family has started a fundraiser aiming to support low-income black writers. Odubanjo won the 2021 Eric Gregory Award for his New Poets Prize Pamphlet and published his pamphlet ‘While I Yet Live’ with Bad Betty Press in 2019. The poet was studying for a PhD in creative writing at the University of Hertfordshire and working on a collection titled ‘Adam’ based on the unsolved murder of an unidentified boy, found in the River Thames in 2001. 

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