When it comes to young pop stars, Asim Azhar is the new champion in the music business. He has several million hits on each song he releases, ranging from Coke Studio appearances to originals.
Though musicianship needs work when it comes to his music, he’s been embraced by fans; his YouTube numbers attest to that fact.
But Asim Azhar’s latest song, in which he features on a Krewella-EDM single ‘Paradise’ is not as effective. Krewella collaborated with Riaz Ali Qadri and Ghulam Ali Qadri on a song called ‘Runway,’ which is a display of stronger musicianship and one that complemented the other.
Asim Azhar’s Krewella feature is a decent electronic dance music single that is dominated by Krewella. The lyrics are romance-tinged and the song is going in a good direction but Azhar’s appearance on the song is bizarre. Not everyone sounds endearing in English when it comes to Pakistani singers. A Shamoon Ismail or Poor Rich Boy can. Azhar’s strength is not his English verses to begin with. The Punjabi sounded better but only appears in hide-and-seek capacity as does Azhar.
However, given his following, chances are fans will enjoy this musical concoction.
But, on the other hand, a song for PSL 5 that featured a beautiful mix of musicians, representing generations - Arif Lohar, Ali Azmat, Haroon Rashid and Asim Azhar called ‘Tayyar Hain’ - was not appreciated by fans. That is to be expected. Fawad Khan’s anthem, despite his astounding popularity, also just didn’t appeal to people.
Watching this display of generational musicians with Asim Azhar picked as the youngest artist, representing the present, should have been something to be proud of. But as the song got its share of criticism, Asim Azhar made an apology for it.
Taking to Twitter, he penned a note, apologizing to those who didn’t like the song.
Asim tweeted, “As a crazy cricket fan, I really understand the importance that cricket & PSL hold for my fellow Pakistanis. With that being said, I’m sorry to those fans, whom expectations I couldn’t meet.
“I know you guys wait long enough for this time of the year. But everyone tried their best to do something different and out of their comfort zone, with only good intentions for the love of the country & cricket.
And to those, who are enjoying it - thank you for the love. And again, I’m sorry to the ones disappointed. Trust me, being a cricket fan, I get it.”
He then added: “But just a couple of thing I’d like to say to my fellow Pakistanis; PSL anthems are not a competition. Sure, you have all the rights to like & dislike but please understand we all do this for the same cause, for the betterment of cricket, PSL and most importantly our Pakistan.”
“All the anthems of PSL are OUR anthems. If you don’t like a certain one unfortunately, you have others to enjoy from as well. And also guys, please try to refrain & stick to criticism only. Making personal remarks, degrading comments or saying someone should die just for a few likes isn’t cool. Not talking about the memes, memes are fun!”
His stand on personal remarks and degrading comments is spot on. Apologizing for the song because it isn’t appealing to your huge fan-base and is getting criticism is a bit strange. It should be taken in stride – the good and the bad. This is an apology without cause. Respect for the musicians in the anthem and the honour to be among them is also a privilege. He might as well apologise to them. The internet may unite in its hate against the song, but if the musicians themselves start apologizing for a sweet song, we are, as they say, nowhere.