‘Stick Around… Good times just behind the corner’ … Could there be a better musical paean for our times? Nirob Islam returns with a track revealing his trademark style of R&B tinged pop and a huge sense of optimism stemming from his poetic flow and songwriting.
Filmed in Bangladesh, the official video for Stick Around is a cornucopia of sound and colour, so much so you can almost smell it. Family gatherings, busy streets and bicycle bells all feature to create a wonderful window into daily life.
Growing up as a Bengali Muslim in Sweden, Nirob understands implicitly what it is to survive within colliding cultures and has become an artist who proudly shows that being different is actually his strength.
Family and cultural expectations would have seen him take an academic route – he never wished to be a doctor, scientist or lawyer – instead, he just wanted to do something with his life that connected with people and gave him a true sense of belonging.
Based in Stockholm, under the writing pseudonym, SHY Nodi, Nirob was credited on The Chainsmokers hit, All We Know as well as fellow compatriots NOTDs, I Wanna Know and The Ocean by Mike Perry and SHY Martin with the latter going multi-platinum and awarded Most Streamed Song at the Swedish Publishing Awards in 2016.
On the back of two successful singles last year – Complex, which HillyDilly remarked upon as ‘one of the strongest, most current-sounding pop debuts we’ve heard this year’ and Busy Making Plans – Nirob continues to stand out from the crowd.At the start of 2020 he released Westside – a bold, fresh R&B-inspired production with a lush, smooth and confident vocal performance, yet another example of Nirob continuing to thrive as an artist in his own right, as well as overcoming the inevitable obstacles that come with sticking to one’s path.
Nirob: ‘Stick Around is almost like a second part, or extension to my last single, Westside. Both songs were written on the same day, one after the other in a cabin by a lake, isolated from society with Hampus Hellström and the producers Medium. I had a lot of time to reflect on different aspects of my life. Stick Around is my thoughts out in the open, something encouraging and uplifting for anyone who needs it, a celebration of both the ups and the downs you experience in life.