“Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space.” —Interstellar (2014)

he year was 2022 when Eva B, Kaifi Khalil and Abdul Wahab Bugti came together for a collaboration to be featured on Coke Studio 14. Curated and produced by Zulfiqar ‘Xulfi’ Khan, the Balochi song, ‘Kana Yaari’ was conceptualized by Kaifi Khalil and spoke of betrayal.

It was juxtaposed by a music video that offered hope, replete with colorful walls, doors, and palpable aesthetics that could be seen across the song’s production design. The single, in short, had a clever music video that was directed by an underrated Jamal Rahman.

The thing to remember here is that if you score a hit on Coke Studio, you can often find national and/or international audience, who might go through your past and present musical efforts - beyond the show.

This is exactly the story of Kaifi Khalil and there’s no stopping his art from being heard beyond certain geographical parameters only.

The bilingual artist, who can sing in Balochi and Urdu has arrived in consistent fashion post-Coke Studio 14. For example, if you scroll through his YouTube page, you will learn that he has been releasing music for years. But after ‘Kana Yaari’ from Coke Studio 14 was released in January 2022, and a Quick Style dance video that followed a few months later, there was no stopping the momentum that had been bestowed on Khalil.

In the summer of 2022, Kaifi Khalil dropped a song called ‘Kahani Suno 2.0’. Written, composed (and) with music by Kaifi Khalil, the Urdu song became a roaring hit (and still is) with 200 million views on YouTube as well as having the tag of being one of the most watched videos around the world, hitting the global YouTube charts at number 47.

His original song got covered by one of the country’s biggest singers, Aima Baig, and Khalil went on to deliver the song for the original soundtrack of a local drama serial. He has played shows around parts of the country and also played his first show outside Pakistan - in Jeddah - recently. Somewhere in this time frame, he also released a song called ‘Zolfe Nooda’n’ but we’re still stuck on ‘Kahani 2.0’.

This brings us to the present.

In 2023, Kaifi Khalil released a new song called ‘Mansoob’, which was dropped earlier this month. To be fair, it could also be called ‘Kahani Suno 3.0’ because thematically and musically, the idea of betrayal, longing and loss and the sonic landscape that captures it, feels like a sequel to its predecessor. But, to be fair, that is also about perception. Khalil has written, composed, and performed ‘Mansoob’ but has also shown his skill as a music producer and it is sharp.

When the song first premiered on YouTube, nearly two weeks ago, it found a spot on the charts, clocking in at number 5 in ‘trending for music’ YouTube charts.

Moving beyond numbers and past successes, listening to ‘Mansoob’ is almost a cathartic experience because betrayal, loss, longing are universal themes. However, it doesn’t sound like an imitation even as it is an unabashed, heartbreaking love song.

The music video also takes its cue from the song. Among frames of Kaifi Khalil in the music video, we see him sitting before the sea, on top of rugged rocks with waves crashing before his eyes or Khalil writing in a diary, walking around in sand on the beach, and no gimmickry. The music video does a decent job as a showcase of the emotions running through the song. Is it ‘Kahani 3.0’ or an entirely new song? It actually doesn’t matter because the song is soaring as a true blue single.

If anything, it is one of those rare songs where you do not wonder why the subject matter is love, betrayal, loss and not other issues such as social justice, gender equality or one of the many pressing issues of our time.

Khalil sings from the heart about a range of emotions under the guise of music that is beautiful and also dips its toes in synth pop, played like a magic trick on us. Either way, this melancholic tune from Kaifi Khalil is certainly worth listening to.

There has to be something incredible about the singer who has racked up thousands and thousands of listeners on the most popular audio streaming platform in the world (and which is operating in Pakistan as well) called Spotify.

It needs to be said that this song by Kaifi Khalil can also compete with some of the ‘best’ love songs dropped by mainstream Bollywood and emerge as the winner.

So, if melancholia, loss, and longing is what you’re looking for in a song, a repeat session of ‘Mansoob’ will provide catharsis. And if that’s not your mood, hearing it once is a must because upon listening what will emerge is that (a) he is no one-hit wonder and (b) just why this young man is flying so high in the fractured music scene.