Dawn Images

Ali Azmat is back with new music — and true to form, he’s using it to talk politics and the state of the world.

The Junoon singer released his new single, ‘Yahan Wahan,’ on Saturday alongside a dystopic music video which, according to a disclaimer at the beginning, has been “created through a combination of human direction and generative AI tools.”

The song is a retelling of human suffering — of all kinds — occurring “yahan, wahan, kahan, kahan” (here, there, and everywhere), as the recurring lyrics put it.

The video, which feels like a sci-fi movie, begins with Azmat waking up trapped in a secure facility where he is forcibly injected with unknown substances.

He eventually overpowers his captors and escapes — but not before he ventures deep into the bowels of the facility, stumbling upon human clones suspended in glass tanks, a theatre of brain-washing populated by endless rows of suits wearing VR glasses emblazoned with the word ‘OBEY’.

“What life is this?” he asks in the lyrics, “Where everyone is imprisoned? Why is happiness lost? Only ashes are left.”

Outside, he finds a world of rubble and ruin, where he picks up an electric guitar and starts to play. Eerie, glowing alien-like figures surround him, taking in the performance.

The viewer is then taken through a montage of people facing hardships worldwide — indigenous tribes fending off attack, the suffering of all living things brought on by poverty, food scarcity, climate catastrophe and the military-industrial complex that profits a wealthy few.

“Break them,” he encourages listeners, “The chains of cruelty. All of you break the shackles, gather all your might, and lives will change for the better,” he sings.

The video ends with Azmat leading a horde of survivors facing off against what appears to be a group of soldiers and an armoured vehicle.

With a runtime of roughly five and a half minutes, the music video for ‘Yahan Wahan’ includes graphic content and simulated violence. Discretion is recommended for sensitive viewers.

Despite the use of AI to make the video, ‘Yahan Wahan’ is a well-intentioned effort at clubbing together all the ills Azmat believes are plaguing the word.

That being said, with so many divided over generative AI’s role in the creative business across the world, it remains to be seen how Azmat’s attempt will be received by fans and critics alike.