The obvious hit of Coke Studio Pakistan S15 is Blockbuster. Multi-generational rizz: gabru jawan rap gambolling with older women’s giddas lachkoing alongside that raw belting child-voice. Unabashed delights of a single take video: layers of detail and style in one choreographed shot. Entertaining Hinglish/Punglish (“tu somehow mere’ich smaliya”). The sweet sentiment of hearing Indian city names in a Pakistani pop song—“Ve kurta laylya ni Ludhianyon, main suniya si kahnaiya, O marjaneya” (I’ve bought me a kurta from Ludhiana, they’ve got quite the reputation, my darling/And fixed a rickshaw so I’m heading in your direction my darling”)—reminds us that we each belong to lands, not just nations. So much maza, khulle haath, khulla dil is indeed the definition of a true blockbuster, made with heart, not only marketing. 

Blockbuster may be the season’s charmer. But the diva of the dance is Shazia Manzoor. Turi Jaandi, her song with Hasan Rahim, is set in a futuristic restaurant at the end of a queer universe. As she is revealed by a searching camera, she shrugs off some invisible velvet cloak and also, any ambiguity about who rules this song: it’s Shazia Manzoor, with the voice like a sweet smoked chilli.