RAWALPINDI: Singer Arooj Aftab, who made it to former US president Barack Obama’s summer playlist earlier this year, has become the first Pakistani to be nominated in the best new artist category for the Grammy Awards.
Nominees for the 64th annual Grammy Awards were announced on Tuesday night. The show is scheduled to take place in Los Angeles on Jan. 31.
Other best new artist nominees are country music singer Jimmie Allen, American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo, rapper Saweetie, rapper Baby Keem, singer Finneas, British band Glass Animals, Korean-American indie rock group Japanese Breakfast, Australian breakout star The Kid Laroi, and British singer Arlo Parks.

Aftab has lived in the US for nearly two decades since she left Pakistan for Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music, she says her music owes a large debt to her hometown, Lahore, and the music and the poetry of her country of origin.
The 36-year-old began to make headlines in 2018, when the National Public Radio (NPR) listed her “Lullaby” as one of the 200 Greatest Songs by 21st Century Women+ and the New York Times celebrated her “Island No 2” among the Best Classical Music Tracks of 2018.
Her rendition of a famous Urdu ghazal, “Mohabbat,” was on Obama’s summer playlist alongside Ella Fitzgerald, Jay-Z, The Rolling Stones, Drake and Bob Dylan. It has been nominated in the Grammy’s best global music performance category in 2022.
Aftab’s nominations immediately made the rounds on Pakistani social media.
Singer and television host Fakhr-e-Alam shared the news on his official Twitter page celebrating the “incredible” news.
“BIG CONGRATS @arooj_aftab for becoming the first ever Pakistani to be nominated for best New artist for the 2022.”

Fellow performer Fifi Haroon wrote: “WOW! Pakistani singer #AroojAftab gets nominated for a #Grammy in the New Artist Category for an Urdu song!“

Actor Osman Khalid Butt welcomed the “fantastic news.”

Singer and actor Hadiqa Kiani shared the link to Aftab’s YouTube channel.
“Yes!!! Our very own @arooj_aftab has made music history by being nominated by the @RecordingAcad for Best New Artist!,” she wrote. “This is a very proud moment for our nation.”