Arooj Aftab is a singer and composer based in Brooklyn. She grew up in Saudi Arabia, but her family is from Pakistan. And earlier this year, she made history by becoming the first Pakistani artist to win a Grammy. Her song, “Mohabbat” won the Best Global Music Performance Grammy, and she was nominated for Best New Artist. “Mohabbat” was first released on her 2021 album, Vulture Prince, but it’s been a part of Arooj’s life for a long time. In this episode, she tells the story of how the song was first born, and how it lived with her and evolved over the years before she finally recorded it.

You can buy or stream “Mohabbat” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
Maeve Gilchrist, harpist
Gyan Riley, guitarist
Shahzad Ismaily, synth
Jamey Haddad, drummer
Nadje Noordhuis, flugelhorn
Mehdi Hassan – “Mohabbat Karne Wale Kam Na Honge”
Mehdi Hassan
Hafeez Hoshiarpuri

This week, I want to introduce you to another podcast that I make, called Partners. It’s a show about partnerships that was born out of Song Exploder. I’ve made a bunch of episodes with bandmates, or co-writers, or an artist and a producer who worked together, all these stories where the songs were the result of a really special collaboration. And I was always fascinated by the origins of the relationship, as part of the story of the origin of the song. When you hear those stories, it becomes clear that what these people made together is something that reflects not just each of them individually, but this other, unique entity that only exists where the two of them meet. And I wanted to make a podcast that was entirely about that idea. And I feel like all successful long-term partnerships could be thought of as love stories. It’s a matter of luck, and being in the right place at the right time, and also work and patience, plus some ineffable magic spark. So that’s what Partners is about. The first season came out in 2020, and the second season just began last week. You can subscribe to the show at Partners.show, or wherever you get your podcasts, etc, but I also just want to play you this episode from season 2, with two music greats, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, who have made two incredible albums together.

You can buy or stream both of their albums,Raising Sand and Raise the Roof.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes

Peaches is a musician, producer, and performance artist. She’s released six albums and in 2015, she won the Polaris Heritage Music Prize. Her fourth album, Impeach My Bush, came out in 2006, and features the song “Boys Wanna Be Her.” She produced the song with Mickey Petralia, whose other production credits include Beck, Ladytron, and Flight of the Conchords. “Boys Wanna Be Her” has become kind of an anthem since it came out. It’s been used in a lot of film and tv. To name just a couple examples, it was in the season 2 finale of ‘The Boys,’ and it’s the theme song for ‘Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.’ In this episode, Peaches tells the story of what inspired the song originally, and how she made it, with a few thoughts from Mickey Petralia.

Peaces will be on tour throughout 2022. Visit teachesofpeaches.com for tickets.

You can buy or stream “Boys Wanna Be Her” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
AC/DC
“TNT” by AC/DC
Def Leppard
Roland Groove Box MC505
Greg Kurstin
Fleabag – trailer