Hello, how are you?/It’s so typical of me to talk about myself, I’m sorry/I hope that you’re well/Did you ever make it out of that town where nothing ever happened?/It’s no secret that the both of us are running out of time/So hello from the other side (Other side)” - ‘Hello’ by Adele

Nearly a year ago, in January 2021, in his first major interview with Instep, Abdullah had just returned from a photo-shoot. His career may have flown into a multiverse (Spider-Man anyone?) but the cadence of politeness has not been replaced.

Abdullah Siddiqui, still in his early twenties, had accomplished a great deal even last year but the interview was about learning who Abdullah Siddiqui was under the pretext of his third album, dead Beat poets which dropped in 2021. The album released (without fanfare) because Abdullah wanted to keep it that way. As 2021 approached its end, Abdullah dropped another album, dead Beat poets: side B, again keeping it invisible by not promoting in any fashion.

That’s 4 albums since 2019. And as Abdullah told Instep earlier this month, a fifth album is scheduled to release this year. As we talk over Zoom for this interview, he admits that the quiet releases of his last two albums were by design.

“I was being so vulnerable with the lyrics and the themes on dead Beat poets and dead Beat poets side: B and honest that I dropped it quietly because I almost didn’t want it to be seen so I kind of dropped it as a single product without pre-hype or drawing much attention to it. I wanted only dedicated fans to listen to it. I didn’t want that work to be scrutinized on a massive level,” he begins.

But, now ready to be vulnerable and showcase the complexity of his emotions encased within his music and lyrics, his fifth album will arrive after a couple of music videos/singles to create the necessary hype, interest or curiosity, confirms Abdullah. He further notes, “It’s commercially aligned but it’s still me. Sonically very ambitious but very open in terms of the themes I’m exploring; I feel like I’m braver now and I want to give it breathing room and want people to examine it song by song. I’ll drop several singles before it comes out.”

For Abdullah, what was true a year ago still hold true: the album is the product. “I still believe in albums.”

Not one to talk about himself when an opportunity of an interview presents itself, Abdullah is articulate though when asked about CS14, the PSL anthem for its seventh season and how the former in particular has affected him as a musician, the learning curve and the experience of it all.

Making segues between Coke Studio 14, PSL 7 anthem ‘Agay Dekh’ (where Abdullah Siddiqui was helming a major commercial project for the first time solo) and his upcoming album, what is obvious is that this singer-songwriter and producer is not one to take credit from others. He speaks about the role of others who were involved in ‘Agay Dekh’ for PSL 7 including the multidisciplinary Natasha Noorani. As he recounts the story, you just wonder what an anomaly and prodigious artist he is, who still hasn’t changed nor has he become unapproachable unlike many of his peers.

“I see you under western skies/Behind your eyes/I can escape/From the grave/How did ya find me how did ya find me?/What are you looking for, are you looking for” - ‘Find Me’ by Kings of Leon

The one question that kept bugging me was why Abdullah released dead Beat poets: side B after releasing dead Beat poets earlier in the year. What, to him, was the connection between the two albums?

You had told me dead Beat poets is about your friends, I ask.

“I think dead Beat poets: side B was a bit of a continuation of the same things,” says the soft-spoken artist. “It was still about my immediate relationships. But I think there was an element of maturity. Side: A was fictionalized and romanticized teenage fantasy, Side: B was more grounded and had more perspective.”

Abdullah calls Side A the teenage self of Side B as he observes how his work has always been severe and has themes about psychology.”

But that’s always been there…

“Yea, but, dead Beat poets (Side A and Side B) kind of strip that back a bit. And they get a bit more explicit, honest and diaristic. Now I’m heading into the earlier songwriting style, a bit more complex and a bit more abstract.”

“In leash-less confusion/I’ll wander the concrete/Wonder if better now having survived/The jarring of judgement and reason’s defeat the sweet” - ‘Angel of Small Death & the Codeine Scene’ by Hozier

Abdullah Siddiqui’s role in Coke Studio 14 goes beyond featured artist. But before that, I ask Abdullah about the allegations made against the song, ‘Tu Jhoom’? The timeline suggests there is no theft and ‘Tu Jhoom’ can firmly stand on its own two feet, but the question had to be asked. Abdullah seems almost irked because he believes the matter should be over since (valid) proof has been provided.

“I think Nirmala Maghani is a talented singer who has every right to be concerned about her own rights as a musician. That said, I feel like this has been an open and shut case since it started. If you look at the evidence and the timeline, Xulfi had already sent me the melody for ‘Tu Jhoom’ by early May and Nirmala has stated multiple times in press and privately that she had not sent Xulfi her melody until June 14. It’s incontrovertible proof and at this point I think people want to go for the more exciting plagiarism narrative rather than settle for the boring truth that there’s nothing to see here and I hope people look at the truth here. I know Yousaf Salahuddin has come out here but either its miscommunication or falsehood having seen those conversations myself. I know there’s no plagiarism and I hope it gets settled in a way that Nirmala’s concerns are cleared up.”

Not one to talk about himself when an opportunity of an interview presents itself, Abdullah is articulate though when asked about CS14, the PSL anthem for its seventh season and how the former in particular has affected him as a musician, the learning curve and the experience of it all.

Moving on, I ask Abdullah how he was roped in for Coke Studio 14 in multiple roles. “It’s a testament to Xulfi; he’s a visionary in the true sense and he had the artistic selflessness to know that the best music does not come out of an oligarchy but a communal artistic effort and he wanted to tap into the future of music.”

Having worked together in the past during Nescafe Basement and later for Pepsi Battle of the Bands, Xulfi had worked with Abdullah before and understood that the future was largely electronic. After the release of ‘Kingdom’, the anthem for Peshawar Zalmi which Abdullah had created, Xulfi, to his credit, reached out to Abdullah and he offered him three jobs within Coke Studio 14. “One was to be a part of his think-tank which consisted of four or five people. Our job was to advise and come up with a line-up long into the process after the initial line-up was designed. There were a lot of changes.

“The second role was as a performer, to sing as well, and I got to work on a song that I’m really proud of and it’s the first song on my upcoming album. And the third job was music producer and I was there to bring my perspective. Xulfi has so much experience and wisdom and so much skill. He has knowledge about music and audience and I was there to complement all of his skill with my own futurist angle. We worked together so well that I kept contributing to these songs.”

“If you look at ‘Tu Jhoom’, it has that Sufi DNA but if you listen to the instrumentation carefully, you realise there’s a very heavy electronic presence in that song.

There are a lot of interesting uses of texture that I completely synthesized but it all adds up to this organic, easy feeling. I think this season will do a good job of creating distinction in people’s mind between electronic and dance music. People think electronic means trap or dance music but electronic is anything made with software.”

The role, says Abdullah, challenged him and demanded a lot from him in terms of versatility and expanding his horizons in the kind of styles he has worked in pre-Coke Studio. It has also been a great experience, admits Abdullah, given the artists he’s had a chance to work with or watch as performers or work on their songs.

“We used to be so free/We were living for the love we had/Living not for reality/Just my imagination” - ‘Just My Imagination by The Cranberries

While Coke Studio was teamwork, PSL was also teamwork, but Abdullah was running the show with the latter, and given the fervour for cricket, you really have to get the song right since it will blast in the stadium for the duration of the matches. And it will either make people appreciate the effort or they will not. Abdullah recounts exactly how he got the gig.

As it turns out, time dictated how far boundaries could be pushed. As Abdullah recalls, him and his agency got the gig just two weeks before. “We had very little time. We didn’t have our artists finalised until a little over a week ago or 10 days. I got the job based on my demo. I had been circling it for months.”

Though talks were on for some time, in the end, nothing materialised but Abdullah won the round ultimately based on the music he sent: an instrumental snippet of what would be the song.

“In making that song, an amount of thought went into it like not compromising my identity but also making something that has a huge-stadium feel, upbeat, populace and infectious.”

While he was working under Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan (Xulfi) who helmed Coke Studio 14, the PSL gig was something Abdullah was helming on his own. “Working with Atif Aslam and Aima Baig was a pleasure. I was leading a major mainstream project and so getting those performances out of them and fine-tuning the composition to suit their voices, was an interesting challenge. Natasha Noorani and I came up with the melody…”

Observant, Abdullah knows that Coke Studio and PSL are two of the most coveted jobs for a producer in Pakistan and he’s gotten a chance to experience both and is grateful but also has other plans. Having decided to take time off from college (given how much he was doing at the time), Abdullah Siddiqui, in addition to his fifth album, is doing a film score (which he obviously can’t talk about at the moment) and hoping for another run at Coke Studio should Xulfi get the gig, and choose to bring him on board, again.

“More than anything else I want to take a break,” he says, and you can’t help but agree. He has released the same number of albums as the Vital Signs, and will soon surpass them. The speed at which he is releasing music, he may surpass other music pioneers as well, including Junoon.

Becoming the voice of the generation sonically, Abdullah Siddiqui is the right person to redefine the idea to people that electronic music is not just electronic dance music (EDM is a sub-genre) only. Electronic music can be embedded in commercial music projects and still make music infectious and popular. A change is comin’.