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One of the year’s most anticipated Pakistani albums — and reportedly the country’s most pre-saved to date — Asim Ali is finally out, and Asim Azhar’s fans have thoughts. Mostly good ones.

Azhar’s first independent album dropped last night with 10 tracks: ‘Asim Ali’, ‘Khabbay Sajjay’, ‘Na Ja’, ‘Changes’, ‘Lost n Found’, ‘Sugar Rush’, ‘Jind Mahi’, ‘Pari’, ‘U Got This’ and ‘Strangers’. In a video shared hours before the release, Azhar played the final masters for his mother — something he said he always does first — and wrote that many of these songs were created during “his most vulnerable moments”, some as far back as six or seven years.

“This album has songs that were written in my most vulnerable & honest state. Maine kabhi nahi socha tha ye gaanay aap log sunege (I never thought you guys would listen to it).”

The album announcement came earlier on October 29 — his birthday — when he revealed that Asim Ali is also a nod to his real name. .

“On my birthday, I want to introduce the world to Asim Ali.”

Last night, he admitted he couldn’t sleep from excitement or think straight from nerves, waiting to see how listeners would respond.

Judging by the early reactions, it is safe to say his fans love it, or at least can relate to it.

Fans wanted nothing more than someone to write a song for them the way Azhar wrote for his other self.

Some even went as far as labelling him “the Taylor Swift of Pakistan”, considering the emotional rollercoaster and the hype.

But one track had already taken the lead before the album even dropped: ‘Strangers’, featuring rapper Talha Anjum.

And of course — it didn’t disappoint.

Still, some fans could not resist analysing the album through a certain someone-shaped lens.

Asim Ali marks Azhar’s first independent release after years of hit singles and major-label collaborations, signalling both creative and personal liberation. It is raw, it is honest, and it is the closest fans have come to hearing the unfiltered artist behind the radio-ready pop star.

After fan favourites like ’Tere Bin Nahi Lagda’ and ‘Meri Zindagi Hai Tu’, Azhar might be on the way to give another hit, this time from his first independent album.