She’s one of my all-time favourite artists and although she doesn’t have a very large body of work released out there, Natasha Noorani has been around the music scene for some time now.

She’s known very well among Pakistan’s music circles as one of the co-directors of one of Pakistan’s most important music festivals, Lahore Music Meet, as a manager of Pakistani pop-rock duo Strings and, for those keeping a keen eye on the underground music scene, as one half of the retro-pop outfit Biryani Brothers.

Her cool, retro-pop, electronic dance number Baby Baby that has her snapping her fingers and grooving to the sound of her own music in the video, had well over five million views on YouTube at the time of writing this article.

Her comfortable, seemingly effortless, Eastern-Western fusion style and warm full voice has drawn comparisons to the likes of Nazia Hasan, no less. Yes, high praise indeed.

With Baaz, Natasha Noorani is caught up in an endless lover’s tussle…

Speaking of Velo Sound Station, there is another season in the works with a legendary producer from Coke Studio at the helm of the relatively newer music show. This should be interesting, as the first season of Velo Sound Station gave audiences quite a bang and took attention away from Coke Studio that was being released around the same time. That season of Coke Studio was supposed to be the returning producer’s comeback season. A comeback which, because of the attention Velo Sound Station got, got a lukewarm response.

Now, the same producer is ‘coming back’ again with the second season of Velo Sound Station. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, am I right?

Coming back to Natasha, since her breakout in Velo Sound Station in late 2020, Natasha has released hit singles such as Chhorro, Laiyaan and Faltu Pyaar (with Hasan Raheem) and has been featured on the international music platform Boiler Room, where she performed singles from her currently releasing debut album Ronak.

She’s released a new single from the same album recently — Baaz [Warning]. There’s magic in her voice for sure. The moment I heard her voice start singing in Baaz, I felt a rush of happy anticipation.

The opening notes sound like they’re being played (or simulated) on a pipe organ. Baaz is a playful song that sounds a little like (in terms of vibe and messaging) the artist’s earlier release, Chhorro.

In Baaz, Natasha is engaged in a bit of a lover’s tussle, pushing and pulling with no resolution in sight. The main chorus (literally just the singer crooning Baaz aao na) is the main riff of the song played on the pipe organ and the whole song forms itself around it. While singing Baaz aao na, the singer adds a backing vocal track to her main vocals and gives it a slightly distressed-tape feel. Baaz straddles the line between retro-pop and electro-pop.

Musically, Baaz is a fun dance number but I wonder if it may come across as a bit too niche or elite for general Pakistani audiences. But then, you never know what may strike a chord. Anything is possible nowadays.

Published in Dawn, ICON, April 2nd, 2023