ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s viral singing sensation Taher Shah provided some much needed distraction from the onslaught of pandemic-related news by releasing a new single, “Farishta,” on Friday night-- giving Pakistan’s Twitter users much to talk (and laugh) about.
Shah’s first 2013 single “Eye to Eye” gave him an immediate cult following while turning him into both a much loved and much maligned figure in national pop-culture.
The Eye to Eye video currently sits at over 1.6 million views on YouTube.
In late March, Shah began releasing teasers that a new song was on its way, and when the new animated video and song finally dropped late Friday evening after a series of delays, it amassed over 100,000 views and over 3,000 tweets in the first 12 hours of its release.
Hundreds of memes have since flooded the Internet with screen grabs of the animation.
Prominent culture critic Ahmer Naqvi used a still from the video for a meme with the caption: “When your boss calls you for a ‘quick meeting’ at 5:50 p.m. on a Friday.”
when your boss calls you for a 'quick meeting' at 5:50 pm on a Friday pic.twitter.com/kBsWT5S2XS
— Ahmer Naqvi (@karachikhatmal) April 10, 2020
Still others came to Shah’s defense like Twitter user Qasim Ahsan, who said Shah was originally mocked for being silly but that his new song was finding “genuine approval and love.”
When 'Eye to Eye' came out people mocked Taher Shah. He was a silly man making music that seemed silly for the world it came out in.
His new song however, is finding genuine approval and love. Taher Shah was never silly, he was just before his time. King.
— Qasim Ahsan (@smqasimahsan) April 10, 2020
