Do you smoke? If not, then can I remove this ashtray?” Asim Azhar asks as I take a seat on a wooden bench perched on his rooftop, overlooking the neighbourhood. It’s a warm, humid night, but Karachi’s sky is rarely ever still. The smell of rain also lingers in the air.

When you meet Asim, you realise that he’s a complete average Joe. There’s nothing ‘celebrity’ about him. He’s laid-back, down-to-earth, will walk you to your car when you’re leaving, won’t be upset if you show up late, will start casually humming to fill in any gaps in the conversation. In fact, he will even remember if you met him briefly many years ago, something many celebrities are either unable to do or pretend that they don’t.

Asim doesn’t like the smell of cigarettes and therefore can hardly tolerate even an unused ashtray anywhere near him. No, he has never smoked and he doesn’t plan to. “When you know something is bad for you, why give that thing a chance? You can’t defeat biology. If a substance is meant to alter your body a certain way then no amount of control will save me, will it?”

From the very beginning of the conversation, one can clearly see that this young musician is different from others his age.

And his age is important, because in a country of 208 million people, 60% of the population comprises youth and 29% are between the ages of 15 and 29. That’s a sizable youth population. But how many youngsters do we see on television, that too as successful as Asim? There’s not a lot of mainstream content for the youth, by the youth, which is why this 24-year-old’s success at such a young age is all the more important.

He’s successful, for sure. He trends on number 2 on the Indian Spotify for his song ‘Ghalat Fehmi’, which he sang for Mahira Khan and Bilal Ashraf’s film Superstar; he organically trends on Twitter for completing 8 years in the industry. Asim sings on Coke Studio regularly and performs to sold out concerts around the country; he sings amongst heavyweights like Ali Azmat and Arif Lohar for the country’s biggest cricketing event, the PSL. And when he’s not in concert, you may find him on red carpets or singing on fashion show runway while models and some of the biggest stars of the country walk around him.

How it all began

It’s obvious that Asim is comfortable with his fame, even if he’s often surprised to hear his songs playing on the radio. “I record myself when that happens!” he laughs, and perhaps that’s because he’s grown up with it. “I was a 5 year old dancer at home and in my family, and about 14, 15 years old when I was doing covers and being recognized for it.” One would think that such fame would rack up popularity points in school, but Asim says that it was quite the contrary. He was bullied and threatened by older students instead. But he doesn’t want us to feel bad for him. “Everybody gets bullied in school, I wasn’t the only one. I survived it and learnt from it.”

What Asim reveals next went viral on Twitter recently. That long before Asim became famous for his YouTube covers, he was singing jingles for various brands like Dairy Milk and Cocomo when he was only ten years old. This is also why Asim was only 8 when he got his first cell phone. “I needed it for work.”

By 18, he had landed himself a spot on the coveted Coke Studio, making him one of the youngest artist(s) in Pakistan to be a featured artist alongside some very big names. His first performance on the show was ‘Hina Ki Khusbhu’, also featuring Samra Khan. We also saw the very successful ‘Tera Woh Pyaar’ alongside Momina Mustehsan a few years later.

Breaking away from the bubble

When Asim was recognized at a McDonald’s drive-through, he knew he was becoming famous. “Anything I did before that day was me living in a bubble,” he says, understanding that his music was being heard and appreciated prior to his Coke Studio appearance but it was within a certain group of people, from a certain social class.

“The great Waqar Zaka played a huge role in my career,” he reveals. Waqar Zaka got him a performance at the ARY Musik Festival, in front of a crowd of nearly 5,000 people. It was that exposure that brought Asim in front of the masses and he found himself transitioning his musical style.

Long before Asim became   famous for his YouTube covers, he was singing jingles for various brands like Dairy Milk and Cocomo when he was only ten years old. This is also why Asim was only 8 when he got his first cell phone. ‘I needed it for work’. By 18, he had landed himself a spot on the coveted Coke Studio, making him one of the youngest artist(s) in Pakistan to be a featured artist alongside some very big names. His first performance on the show was ‘Hina Ki Khusbhu’, also featuring Samra Khan. We also saw the very successful ‘Tera Woh Pyaar’ alongside Momina Mustehsan a few years later.

“For instance, I used to think I can sing an English song in Pakistan and become famous. If we look at numbers, our urban developments are much smaller. If you want to become a superstar, or anything even close to revolutionary, you have to connect with your rural population. I’ll consider my success complete the day an A-level student connects to my song, as well as someone living in Chichawatni.”

That day isn’t far away though, because in 2019, Asim went for a Punjab Group of Colleges (PGC) tour, where he performed 60 shows in 58 days. These shows were all over Punjab, from Okara to Rahimyar Khan. In the middle of his tour, he flew to the US, performed in 5 cities, came back to Pakistan and resumed the PGC tour. “From New York to Sargodha,” he smiles. It’s worth mentioning that all notable musicians, such as Junoon, Strings, Atif Aslam and Noori have done this tour.

Naturally, Asim was nervous about performing in more remote areas. Would people recognize or enjoy his songs, should he do covers instead? But to his surprise, his audience sang his songs back to him when he took the stage.

Personal life

Till today, Asim is scared of getting yelled at by his father and that is perhaps the only 24-year-old thing about him. “The other day, my father asked if he could visit the studio, and my heart dropped. We weren’t doing anything wrong, it’s just that he likes cleanliness, he likes professionalism. I knew he would find something to criticize or scold me for. But alhumdullilah for that fear. It keeps me in check.”

Where he learnt discipline from his father, he learnt warmth and compassion from his very famous mother, Gul-e-Rana.

More than the fear or discipline that comes with a military household, Asim’s parents also had conversations with him, right from a young age. He was able to develop an understanding of good and bad and be able to make better decisions for himself, even if nobody was watching or judging him.

“I have made my peace with the fact that I’m not a normal 24 year old,” he replies when I ask him what youngsters his age do.

Does that feel lonely or alienating?

“The way I look at it, I feel exclusive,” Asim says, adding that he is discerning with the friends he makes, or the public events he attends. “People care about being seen and invited, I don’t. I’d much rather hang with my day ones, or the people who I work with and I know I’m a bit of a workaholic.”

Asim is also mindful that he has grown up in front of the world, therefore a lot of his life and its challenges, including his relationships, have often been publicly debated upon, and perhaps that has led him to a place where he isn’t very willing to talk about them.

The road ahead

Asim has grand plans for what he wants Pakistani music to achieve.

“The most important thing in an artist’s journey are his roots, and his identity. It’s what allows him or her to be original. We represent Pakistan and its culture. All the globalization happening in the world, India, for example, is happening because they’re successfully owning their traditions and culture and sharing them with the world. They are making their culture look cool!” Naturally, he recognizes that it’s a long journey and Pakistan has a lot of work to do to get there, but he believes that his humble contributions are ‘a drop in the ocean’ towards fulfilling that vision.

He’s also mindful of how he represents himself, the kind of endorsements he agrees to do, the kind of people he sits with, or the social gatherings he goes to. “It’s time to level up. I’ve reached a certain place in my career but every few years, I think I need to reinvent and go one step further.”

Asim has also recently developed a studio in his newly shifted home. It saves cost and time, and also allows him to work even more than he already does. “The day I stop making good music, that’s the day I should stop being relevant.”