Zain Zohaib and Hamza Malik dropped a collaboration with DJ-producer Alan Walker and singer-songwriter James Arthur on Thursday. The track remixes their hit 'Alfaaz' with Walker's signature EDM and Arthur's vocals.
The original 'Alfaaz' topped Spotify's daily charts in Pakistan and India and cracked the weekly top 50.
Images sat down with Walker to discuss the remake, titled 'Alfaaz (Alan Walker Relight)', his time in Pakistan and his first impressions of the country.
Walker admitted the task was tough.
It was a difficult one because it's a very different type of style of music versus what I usually do
He believes he blended the distinctly Eastern sound of 'Alfaaz' with his own. The result, he says, resonates with EDM fans and non-EDM listeners alike.
The collaboration grew from mutual interest. "We heard the song a bit, here and there. It felt like it was everywhere." Walker's team was already touring Asia when the idea surfaced. Then his team called. "Hey, do you want to travel to Pakistan?" He said yes.
The song came together in weeks. "It's the quickest turnaround we've ever had of any songs." He compared it to making music at 16, with no label and no pressure.
The first demo landed in under a week. A week and a half later, James Arthur was locked in for vocals. Walker worked on closing stages during his Lahore trip. "Within a day or two after the trip, that's when we got the final vocals from James Arthur." That timing aligned with the Spotify submission deadline. "There have been so many little puzzle pieces that needed to come into place, but it's been moving incredibly rapidly."
Muhammad Ibrahim, co-founder of Giraffe Pakistan alongside Zulfiqar J. Khan (Xulfi), said both teams worked well because they were "on the same page about what they exactly wanted out of it."
Ibrahim's team approached Walker's side about a collaboration. But Walker's team pushed for the Pakistan trip. "This would be the best thing to happen — if we could really have him here," they told his team.
When it came together, Ibrahim said, "No one had time to really, you know, plan anything… Everything happened so fast and so organically." Walker praised his collaborators for making time and space in their schedules.
