ong gone are the days when we relied, at least in contemporary music, on a handful of female artists such as The Milestones, Hadiqa Kiani or the pioneering Nazia Hassan. If the 2000s was about the meteoric rise of an Atif Aslam, or an act like Noori or the brilliant comeback of Strings (among others) as mainstream music voices, the decade after it was about the mammoth show – Coke Studio that ran on mainstream channels and tapped into the digital market as well.

Even as Coke Studio, in its latest season, has evolved, it did give room to artists like Meesha Shafi, Zoe Viccaji, Zeb and Haniya – first as a duo and as solo artists later on – a space for female artists in a male-dominated music scene. And now, through Coke Studio as well as independent efforts, the music industry has not one, two, but several female artists, in various roles as they carve their own narratives and musical journeys.

Among them is Rutaba Yakub, who is going all out for her new record. She found national acclaim during Nescafe Basement followed by Pepsi Battle of the Bands (in its resurrected form from 2017-2019). With her band, Roots, Rutaba did leave an impression on viewers and the judges with her music group, Roots, but didn’t make it to the top two. That, however, didn’t dissuade Rutaba from finding her voice.

2022 is a surprisingly strong year for Rutaba. She dropped the single, ‘Anay wala kal/Ghubaray’ with a neon dancehall music video, establishing that her mix of electronic is not necessarily the same as others within the field.

As a celebration of South Asian Heritage Month, she collaborated with Indian artist Abhilasha Sinha for a song called ‘Nazar/Surma’.

August brought Rutaba in the limelight again as she released an electro-pop collaborative track called ‘Throne’. She joined forces with Nayab Batool and Ustad Yousaf for the single with production handled by the rising star in production, Zahra Paracha.

With the mission to release her solo album called Nostalgia @ The Keryana Store, Rutaba is back with what she describes as one of her favourite songs, from called ‘y u callin/ cheengum’. Quite possibly, one of the lighter songs from her upcoming album, the sound is electro-pop and could transport some listeners to the electro era of the eighties, bringing to mind a song from Human League or Alphaville (without the rock element). Nonetheless, ‘y u callin/ cheengum’ is playful in tone and particularly when you watch the music video. As a pure audio song, it has the nature of an electro-pop single where the rhythm section and the retro vibe, inching towards dancehall is as surprising as it is groovy in the literal sense of the word.

Rutaba Yakub’s upcoming, solo album is shaping up to become one of the coolest albums of 2022 where she is bold enough to create songs that have a cohesiveness to them and when heard back-to-back, it is also apparent that you will not be bored but bop your head or allow yourself to be surprised and with an open mind, you certainly will.

Rutaba is an emerging artist, who remains open to collaborations and is pulling us to her narrative with each song. This is her fourth release from her upcoming album.

If you – like us – can’t get enough of her music, do checkout her previous EP called S*** I’ll Never Release (2020) and get gobsmacked by the significant growth she is displaying with each release. And, in the meantime, check out her songs on various music platforms including Spotify.