Pakistani composer and singer Arooj Aftab was the first Pakistani to win a Grammy Award earlier this year.

She bagged her first Grammy in April this year in the Best Global Performance category for her song “Mohabbat”. It is a cover of Hafeez Hoshiarpuri’s ghazal “Mohabat Karney Wale Kum Na Hoonge”. The ghazal has also been sung by Mehdi Hasan and singer Farida Khanum in the past.

It wasn’t the only category in which she was nominated, also featuring on list of Best New Artist category.

Now, she is looking for a repeat as she submitted her song ‘Udhero Na’ in the Best Global Music Performance and Best Arrangement, Instrument and Vocal categories. She announced the news on her Instagram.

Quoting the song, Aftab added, “ankhon main silay hoay ho, udhero na… this song is about getting over your ex… must win for sure because we finally got over them.”

The song features British-Indian-American sitar player Anushka Shankar - the daughter of Indian music maestro Ravi Shankar.

The younger Shankar was first woman - and also the youngest - to receive a British House of Commons Shield. She has also had seven Grammy nominations.

The song Udhero Na is a part of Arooj Aftab’s latest album ‘Vulture Prince’. Thematically, the album discusses stories of people, relationships, and lost moments and is dedicated to the memory of her younger brother, Maher.

The 37-year-old has steadily made her place in the music industry by reimagining old ghazals and poetry by setting them to original music or transforming existing songs completely. Her work fuses ancient Sufi traditions with inflections of folk, jazz, and minimalism.

She has released three albums so far: Bird Under Water (2014), Siren Islands (2018), and Vulture Prince (2021) which gained even more attention after former US president Barack Obama included ‘Mohabbat’ on his 2021 summer favorites list.

The Grammys will take place on February 5 in Los Angeles. The nominations will be announced on November 15.