Asim Azhar’s relatively young yet rapidly growing career is definitely not one without several big accomplishments. Being one of the few breakout singers from Coke Studio, his collaboration with Momina Mustehsan in ‘Tera Woh Pyar’ (Coke Studio Season 9) has gained more than 60 million views on YouTube alone. So what does this 20-something singer/songwriter have to say about his success in Coke Studio?
“It was very unexpected,†he said in a conversation with Something Haute. “But even when we were in the middle of rehearsing it at times we would always know that this song had an aura of either make or break around it. We knew that either people will love it or they will hate it, but I am grateful that people loved it and continue to praise it even today. It feels very surreal to be a part of something that had such a gigantic response both locally and internationally.”
Being one of the few people who have enjoyed early success in Pakistan, we asked Asim about being an artist in these times for music and musicians and what does he stand for.
“As an artist I stand for creative freedom without any boundaries,” he said candidly. “I believe that an artist’s art should not be limited or compromised under any circumstances.”
Moving beyond Coke Studio, Asim Azhar just released his new song titled ‘5 AM’ and it’s a song that speaks about having confidence no matter what. It is a song that defines how important it for us to be independent without having to rely on someone, and it is anything but conventional, with a sound that dabs into the electronic dance genre. ‘5 AM’ has everything to turn it into a pop sensation. It’s is a big jump away from Asim’s previous style and so we asked him about his new direction.
“This new single is something that I have always wanted to work on and it matches the music and sounds that are going around in the world today,” he explained. “For this single I collaborated with an international producer, named Upside Down who is based in LA. He brings his sound, which is the electronic 2017 sounds, and I bring my style and music to ‘5 AM’. I want to bring current sounds to Pakistan as we are far behind from the new age sounds; you will definitely be hearing more of it some time soon.”
Asim also spoke about the importance of creating original music.
“It is extremely important to come out with original music because I see a lot of artists depending on various platforms to bring out new music,†he said about platforms that encourages musicians to perform covers and remakes. “I believe an artist should be able to create and make their own music by developing their own melody etc. This is the only way that our industry will stay alive and grow eventually. So we need to create more music of our own rather then depending only on brands and other platforms.”
