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We’ve talked about Zayn Malik’s new album KONNAKOL before and how it’s his most culturally connected work yet, even incorporating the South Indian vocal technique it’s named after.

Well, the album just got a whole lot more South Asian now that we know one of the tracks is named ‘Nusrat’ after a distant aunt of his — we’re kidding, it’s named after Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the Shehenshah-e-Qawwali.

Malik played a game of Guess the Artist with Jack Coyne of the Track Star podcast and when Khan’s song ‘Mast Mast Dum Mast’ was played, he took his time to enjoy the music before guessing correctly.

After the guess, he told Coyne one of the songs on the album was named after the maestro.

The singer was quick to point out how he wasn’t alone in being inspired by the legendary qawwal, giving the example of Jeff Buckley, a devoted admirer who even covered Khan’s ‘Halka Halka Suroor’.

Malik hinted his own fans may be in for something similar with his song ‘Nusrat’.

This isn’t the first time he’s dropped hints like this. During a live Q&A session with fans, he described the difference between his next album and the rest of his discography, saying, “There’s a lot more Indian influence, Pakistani influence and South Asian vibes going on… it was the basis for the production.”

He told fans he found himself singing “qawwali-kinda sounding stuff and sufi-sounding things”. He said he had employed “more of my knowledge of my heritage and the things that have inspired me and put it into my music”.