Afusic and Ali Soomro know virality is fleeting, but ‘Pal Pal’ is built to last – Culture

For Afusic, music wasn’t a conscious choice as much as it was destiny. His father, Azeem Sarwar, a ghazal artist, was his earliest influence. “I would eavesdrop on his rehearsals and try to copy him. During one of his performances, I forced him to let me sing. He agreed. That was the first time I was ever appreciated for my singing.”

Instead of following exactly in his father’s footsteps, Afusic kept his ears wide open to everything — English pop, Urdu ballads, hip-hop. By the time he was in college, he was recording karaoke covers on his mother’s phone. Later, a better mic and Instagram gave him a platform to showcase his voice.

“In 2020, I saw how artists were putting out original music. It was around the same time Hasan Raheem blew up. But I was really into hip-hop because of Talha Anjum and Talhah Yunus. I have been following them since 2013. I would even fight for Talha Anjum. So I started writing rap,” shared Afusic.

Trying his hand at rhymes, he entered underground rap contests where veterans such as Jani and Savage lauded his ability. “I would sing too; everyone knew that was something I could do. But I never had professional training. I never sat with my father to learn. I just watched him train and absorbed,” he said.

Soomro’s story takes us to Hyderabad, where, growing up, he would listen to the Top 40 UK charts religiously. By 2013, he was experimenting with his own songs, hunting for studios in a city that offered little in terms of quality. “The sound always came out funny,” he laughed. Frustrated, he pivoted to live performance, starting a rock band where he doubled as lead vocalist and guitarist. It barely lasted two shows.

“I think we just didn’t talk to each other enough,” he admitted. “There was no cohesion.”

In search of a more sustainable path, he turned to classical music training, spending three years under an ustad. The theory was solid, but according to Soomro, his execution “lacked soul”. By 2021, he realised his strength wasn’t in performing but in production. “I understood how music worked, the backend of it. So production felt natural to me. That’s when I opened my own studio.”

Fate brought Afusic and Soomro together in 2022 and they instantly clicked.

One of the turning points in Afusic’s journey was Talha Anjum’s track ‘4 AM’. A single line, Tu sooraj ko chiraag mat dikha (I’m the sun, don’t show me the lantern), pushed him to quit his call centre job, something he’s confessed to in all his interviews. “It triggered my self-esteem,” he said. “I didn’t like corporate culture anyway. I always wanted to do something bigger. So, when I heard ‘4 am’, I realised I was the sun.”

To get by, Afusic freelanced in graphic design, but music remained his focus. “There are always two kinds of music,“ he said, “One that you do for yourself, and one that you do for others. So my initial goal was to make music that would resonate with people. I knew once I had their attention, I could give them a taste of what I like.”

For Afusic, ‘Pal Pal’ was a combination of both.

Afusic remembers exactly how ‘Pal Pal’ was born: “I initially wrote ‘Heer’ and brought it to Ali. He said this song would blow up. That boosted my confidence. The next morning at 6 or 7am, I was smoking and listening to beats on YouTube, and I eventually started writing. Whatever I wrote, I brought it to Ali.”

Soomro kept the production for ‘Pal Pal’ minimal but intentional. “I like to play instruments myself — ukulele, guitars, and MIDI. I don’t rely on samples. Three days of work went into ‘Pal Pal’, and then it sat in the hard drive.“

“This was two years ago. Ali told me to wait because he said the song would explode,” Afusic added.

He was of the view that the more the music, the more the listenership. “I used to think that if I dropped a song every week, the algorithm would favour me. That is not to say it didn’t. It actually helped; we started getting featured on playlists more regularly.”

The artist claimed his and Soomro’s music would be ‘sensible’ enough to get featured. “There’s also a whole process to pitching your songs to different playlists; people weren’t familiar with that process back when Spotify arrived. But once we started getting noticed, a lot of industry folks and other entities started recognising us.”

By entities, Afusic meant music labels. “Timing matters. When I brought ‘Pal Pal’ to Ali two years ago, he told me to wait because it was not the ‘right time’. Because we didn’t have the kind of entities we were looking for in the market. Labels. The label that I’m working with. Universal Music Group (UMG) Pakistan.”

UMG marked its presence in Pakistan in 2023 when it signed Asim Azhar. The same year, Sony Music signed Taha G. Ever since, we’ve heard of many labels, including Mass Appeal, expanding into Pakistan’s music market, eyeing its indie music. But the backing of a label or a streaming service alone cannot be credited for ‘Pal Pal’, Afusic, or Soomro’s success.

“The biggest factor is your art. Campaigns and labels come much later. No label will take your song unless it’s a good song,” assured Soomro.

“The label didn’t push ‘Pal Pal’ the moment it released. It monitored how well the song would do on its own. I don’t know if that’s the standard for every music label, but the investment is usually directly proportional to the performance,” Afusic said.

“‘Pal Pal’ hit 100,000 views in three days on its own without any promotion,” he claimed. Soomro noted, “We had never seen numbers like that. Our songs would get 1,000 to 2,000 views; 5,000 views meant it was a good day for us.”

But ‘Pal Pal’s journey wasn’t as smooth. Even with a label on board, the artists struggled to find someone to make their music video.

Afusic and Soomro knocked on many doors for and were constantly turned away, sometimes literally offered tea and then dismissed. “We met a guy — we won’t name him — for 10 days straight, we went to his house. Every day, he would serve us tea and send us home. But not once did he make our storyboard. Every day, we’d pick out a new pair of socks to go to this man,” Soomro quipped.

The real breakthrough, though, came when a music producer and the brains behind FT.WA Studio, Abdullah Kasumbi, took a chance on the duo.

“You asked me about timing earlier. I feel like timing was again a huge factor in making ‘Pal Pal’ a hit because we met Abdullah Kasumbi at a time when no one was willing to make our music video. He introduced me to Hasan Raheem, made Annural Khalid and Hania Aamir listen to my song. That gave me a push. That introduced people to my work. I still thank him; whenever I meet him, I say, ‘Abdullah bhai, you’re a good person, thank you!’” shared Afusic.

While recent Pakistani pop music seems to be competing for the “Add Sound” button on Instagram, ‘Pal Pal’ came as a breather that went viral for more than just one catchy tabla-induced hook. ‘Pal Pal’s strength lies in having multiple loopable hooks. “All three parts of our song ended up being used in reels,” Afusic said.

The duo acknowledged that reels and shorts are shaping a lot of the music we listen to today. “Songs are being designed to have one reel-friendly part,” he admitted. “But it’s not entirely new. Akon once said he made songs to sell ringtones. He observed how people were paying more for ringtones than songs and cashed in on that.“

The obvious question after ‘Pal Pal’ is: what next? Do Afusic and Soomro feel the pressure to replicate its success?

Afusic shrugged it off. “I’m pretty confident in myself and my musical ability. I made ‘Pal Pal’ the same way I make all my songs. So I will continue to do that. Viral or not viral is up to the audience. My job is to stay consistent.”

And maybe that’s the secret. ‘Pal Pal’ wasn’t written or produced to go viral — it was written at dawn, on a whim, from a place of raw honesty. And its virality was the byproduct, not the purpose.

“To all aspiring artists wishing to break into the scene, I say, be original,” Afusic stressed. “Don’t fake being someone you’re not. I did that when I was 18, writing gangster rap that didn’t resonate. Authenticity is what connects. And be open to criticism. Ali criticises me a lot, but it makes me better.”

Soomro added, “There are no set rules. Be original. But also sort your kitchen. Don’t romanticise the depressed artist trope. Take care of yourself while pursuing your art.”

“Our aim,” Afusic added, “is to create a fusion of old-school classical with the newer pop sound. That’s what excites me.” For Soomro, the goal is to keep pushing production boundaries, playing instruments by hand, and experimenting with sounds.

“We’ve always been confident in our music, even before ‘Pal Pal’. This viral moment didn’t create that confidence — it only confirmed it,“ he assured. “So going forward, we’ll do what we’ve always done. We don’t think in algorithms, anyway,” he smiled. “We just think in music.”