Arooj Aftab’s song ‘Udhero Na’ featuring Anoushka Shankar is being submitted for consideration to the Grammys
Musician Arooj Aftab shattered records this year when she became the first Pakistani artist to win a Grammy. She won for Best Global Performance. But a girl can never have enough Grammys and the singer is submitting a new song for award consideration.
On Tuesday, she shared a tiny piece of her song and excitedly wrote, “‘UDHERO NA’ FEATURING ANOUSHKA SHANKAR for your Grammy voting consideration in the Best Global Music Performance category.” Quoting a line from the single, she said that it was about getting over your ex. “Must win for sure because we finally got over them,” she added.
The Brooklyn-based vocalist scored her first Grammy on April 3, winning the prestigious trophy for her song ‘Mohabbat’ in the Best Global Performance category. She was nominated for the Best New Artist category as well.
The 37-year-old — who has lived in New York for some 15 years — has been steadily gaining global attention for her work that fuses ancient Sufi traditions with inflections of folk, jazz and minimalism. She has released three albums — Bird Under Water (2014), Siren Islands (2018) and Vulture Prince (2021) which gained even more attention after former US president Barack Obama included ‘Mohabbat’ on his 2021 summer favourites list.
Aftab has performed at a number of major New York venues, including Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art, also opening for Mitski at The Brooklyn Steel in 2018. She has worked on her music career, collaborating with other artists while working full time as an audio engineer to pay for her music.
The Grammys will take place on February 5 in Los Angeles. The nominations will be announced on November 15.