At the 2022 GRAMMY Awards, Arooj Aftab went from first-time GRAMMY nominee to history-making GRAMMY winner. Winning Best Global Music Performance for her single "Mohabbat," Aftab became the first Pakistani woman to ever win a GRAMMY.
But for Aftab, just as significant as that historic win was her inclusion in the all-genre Best New Artist category. "I feel like people in post-minimalist or classical or jazz circles have been a little bit otherized by the GRAMMYs, which has always kind of nodded toward the mainstream, mostly — that whole listening audience," she told GRAMMY.com at the time. "Being nominated as Best New Artist has shattered that — for me, at least — and I don't feel otherized anymore."
In this episode of Run the World, revisit Aftab's complex and visionary musical style, which blends jazz, minimalist pop and neo-Sufi leanings. Adding to her unique genre-bending sound, Aftab also takes inspiration from the vocal stylings of everyone from Mariah Carey to Billie Holiday to Indian performer and flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia.
After growing up in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, Aftab moved to the U.S. at age 19 to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston. The now Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter first gained critical acclaim for Bird Under Water and Siren Islands in the mid-2010s, but it was 2021's Vulture Prince — a delicate, seven-track project dedicated to the memory of her late brother — that propelled Aftab to stardom.
"I wanted Vulture Prince to transcend boundaries," she explained to the L.A. Times last year. "I wanted to combine all of my experiences and have them translated in the music."
Charting a quiet, personal journey from grief to healing, Vulture Prince touches on something universal, and feels familiar to any audience — regardless of whether or not those listeners share cultural or musical history with its creator.
Watch the video above for more highlights of Aftab's career to date, and keep checking GRAMMY.com for more episodes of Run The World.
