“And I don’t want the world to see me/Cause I don’t think that they’d understand/When everything’s made to be broken/I just want you to know who I am.” - ‘Iris’ by Goo Goo Dolls

With two older, famous brothers in the entertainment and music scene: Umair Jaswal and Yasir Jaswal, you might think that there might be some sort of sibling rivalry brewing behind the scenes. But Uzair Jaswal, in his late 20s, and younger, is quite possibly one of the biggest fans of his brothers, their work and music.

Uzair is also just as proud of his brothers who are not in the same field as him, Yasir and Umair. “They’re not in the field so people assume we’re just three brothers. My older sister got married when I was very young. My brothers are superstars in their own fields; one is a banker, one works for Amazon in Canada, one works in Germany, so everyone is doing their own thing.”

It does make you wonder what made Uzair choose music over other fields. Making a name in modern pop music isn’t easy, and thus not too lucrative, especially now.

The story of the singer within Uzair Jaswal actually begins at home. The brothers who haven’t pursued a full-time career in music can sing and he notes that it is something they have inherited from their parents even as they, too, didn’t pursue a career in music. The environment at home did make way for music in a sense that it was not frowned upon or considered an abomination.

“I heard good music when I was younger because of my parents,” who, Uzair confesses exposed him to a variety of music. “On long road trips, the six brothers and one sister heard everything from Kishore Kumar to Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.”

As Yasir Jaswal, the co-director of Velo Sound Station (with Bilal Maqsood), a filmmaker and music video director, began his band called Irtaash, Uzair confesses Yasir inspired him the most as Umair began his musical career later. “We had a small house and jamming sessions would happen and I’d be sitting discreetly behind the drummer, or making videos via camcorders at gigs and just was the biggest fan. And that’s how I began as well…”

Yasir was followed by a much younger Uzair who played his first show when he was 14 years old. There was a big EP show in Islamabad, Uzair recounts, at a time they were huge. “My school was organising and after audition I opened for EP and that was the first stage performance.”

Releasing his first song at just 17 years old, and releasing his breakthrough song just two years later, ‘Tere Bin’ Uzair Jaswal had arrived. Every artist has that one song that stays with you; he reiterated, and for Uzair that song was ‘Tere Bin’. It gave Uzair, who was in A-levels, a chance to perform and it also created a long-term goal for him. “I thought it was amazing and this is what I want to do. I graduated from school, and I had been emailing Sir Rohail Hyatt and they got back to me. It paved the way to appear on Coke Studio, in its fifth season.” It was the same season where Umair Jaswal was also performing with Qayaas and Atif Aslam with the song, ‘Charkha Nolakha’.

It was certainly a confusing time, admits Uzair. “Going to college, prepping for SAT and the pressure of applying to universities at home and abroad created a clash. I wanted to follow my heart but also wondered if I should leave for college at all.”

The funny thing, says Uzair, is that even as he continued to email Coke Studio every year, he didn’t get a callback, but Umair did. As it turned out, while sitting at the Coke Studio headquarters in Karachi, Umair called Uzair and told him Coke Studio had replied to his email and they wanted him for the season.

He had switched emails and missed the response, and didn’t know. A dream came true once Uzair Jaswal entered the Coke Studio juggernaut; as a musician there was no looking back given how popular his song from the season became: ‘Nindiya Ke Paar’ mixed with ‘Tere Bin’.

He kept making and releasing music and just three years later, his song ‘Tere Bin’ was picked up by Bollywood as well. It catapulted Uzair to the top of the charts and along the way, he picked up a number of awards.

“I was starting college late and was thinking if I should focus on just music at first. But my father is strict about education and was of the opinion that I had to finish college. So, I graduated a couple of years later.”

“Will you stay with me?/Will you be my love?/Upon the fields of barley/We’ll forget the sun in his jealous sky/As we lie in fields of gold.” - ‘Fields of Gold’ by Sting

An artist whose music echoes love in its many hues, Uzair released Na Bhulana in 2017. “It was scattered,” he admits, “I just took all the songs I had released until then and after adding a couple of new songs dropped everything as an album. The album did well, and I heard it was doing well on streaming sites and a year later , it won Best Music Album at the LSAs, which was great. I continued to study and once I had graduated, I was like now is the time to focus on my music.”

This brings us to Uzair Jaswal’s current album, which is dropping this month. Given how lovelorn his songs tend to be, is he in love? Uzair Jaswal laughs and says, “not at the moment”. But that has not kept him from making an album full of love songs, given his trajectory, flair and preceding songs and personality upon observation.

Like his older brother Umair, Uzair also experimented with acting in 2017 working in two drama serials - Moray Saiyaan followed by Shayad. He also did OSTs for both. Though Uzair learned from the experience, he says, they are different mediums and require a different time frame. “Acting is more time-consuming and I needed to work on my music and also released some songs.”

“And now the times are changin’/Look at everything that’s come and gone/Sometimes when I play that old six-string/I think about ya ‘n wonder what went wrong.” - ‘Summer of 69’ - Bryan Adams

“I’m an emotional guy,” he says, and 2019-2020 created a sense of anxiety to the point that Uzair didn’t leave the house for months and carried a fear for the lives of his parents. “It was all about them and it took a toll on me; I like experiences that come from social and human interaction, I like traveling, meeting new people, falling in love and it and I take bits out of all that. But after coronavirus, I wasn’t inspired at all; I was just blank and couldn’t do anything.”

After vaccinations began taking place and things started up in 2021, Uzair began again. “Once my parents were vaccinated, my heart became lighter and my process as an artist restarted. I felt like I could focus on work because life goes on and I pushed myself and if anything learned from 2021 that you need to live life to the fullest because life’s too short.”

“The upcoming album is, therefore, about a journey, about experiences including love, and about the one. What an year it was. The journey is about both good and bad parts. It’s called Lovestruck and while it is mostly good parts, it’s just as important to talk about the bad parts because you can’t sugar-coat reality.”

“It’s Lovestruck because you can be struck by love like you get struck by lightning; it’s not always good but Lovestruck is like ‘oh, he’s lovestruck but also struck by love. It’s a mix and getting struck by something can be good and bad.”

It’s palpable that for 2021-2022 looks like an exciting year for the-romantic-at-heart Uzair Jaswal.

“I’m excited for my fans and anyone who listens to my music. As for release, the game plan is organic. A digital release is planned for next week; it will be available on all major digital platforms and I’m doing a small launch in Islamabad and hoping to do one afterwards in Karachi as well.”

He is also shooting a music video with older brother Yasir Jaswal – whose aesthetics have made him one of the most dynamic directors in the country.

As far as Uzair is concerned, the reset button that the isolation of a pandemic hit allowed him to be grateful and to express himself in ways he hasn’t before. Vulnerable, romantic and willing to look at reality as it is, his new album should satisfy fans and anyone who likes pop and original music.