Can we have more of Pakistan Idol, please?
For a country whose online spaces are often defined by vile trolling, this level of collective positivity feels almost unfamiliar.
Glowing faces. Charming youth. Fearless stage presence. Postures full of hope.
That is the vibe one gets while watching the rebooted Pakistan Idol, whose second season has returned after an 11-year hiatus. But what’s striking is not just what’s happening on stage — it’s what’s happening off it.
On social media — Instagram, YouTube, TikTok — a rare phenomenon is unfolding. Young and old. Resident and overseas Pakistanis. Across ethnicities and religious backgrounds. People are simply… rooting for talent. Praising their favourite contestants. Agreeing. Celebrating. No cyber-bullying marathons. No sectarian flame wars. No political trench warfare.
Just music.
For a country whose online spaces are often defined by polarisation, this level of collective positivity feels almost unfamiliar.
A late but timely arrival
Pakistan may be nearly two decades late to fully embracing the global song contest formats wave, but perhaps the timing is finally right.
The reality singing format represents something quite powerful in a capitalist-democratic imagination: the idea that anyone — regardless of background — can rise through talent alone. Register. Audition. Perform. Make it.
Countries across the world, including non-Western and Muslim-majority ones, have long adapted the format successfully. Afghanistan’s Afghan Star, for example, became a cultural lightning rod — though not an Idol franchise but inspired by it. India industrialised the Idol format into a commercial juggernaut.
Pakistan, however, struggled to find its footing.
There have been many singing competitions in Pakistan. Several of today’s prominent artists emerged from them. But none achieved the sustained commercial and cultural dominance seen elsewhere, not even the first season of Pakistan Idol (2013–14), which struggled to establish a distinctive identity and was often mocked for relying heavily on Bollywood songs and looking like a ‘cheap copy’ of the Indian edition Indian Idol.
This time, something feels different.
What Changed?
1. The stage: production value with confidence
The lavish lighting, grand stage design, and polished visual aesthetics are finally on par with international standards. The show doesn’t look like it’s trying to imitate someone else. It looks self-assured. It looks expensive — in a good way.
Viewers are genuinely in awe that such production quality is emerging from Pakistan.
2. The judges: a strategic cultural mix
The panel is a masterstroke of diversity and star power:
Fawad Khan — heartthrob with massive cross-border appeal
Zeb Bangash — Chal Diye-famed indie icon and cultural tastemaker
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan — qawwali maestro with classical gravitas
Bilal Maqsood — pop-rock pioneer from Strings
It’s a blend of classical mastery, pop credibility, indie sophistication, and mainstream charisma. The Idol format thrives on judge chemistry and this panel offers both authority and warmth. Fawad Khan alone brings a gravitational star presence that extends beyond music.
3. Reclaiming Pakistani music
Perhaps the most important shift: the show now centres Pakistani songs.
The first season allowed contestants to lean heavily on Bollywood tracks, which blurred the franchise’s identity and invited comparisons to Indian Idol. This time, the house band revives iconic Pakistani cult hits… classics that shaped generations.
The result? A rediscovery of local musical heritage.
Audiences aren’t just consuming nostalgia, they’re reconnecting with it. Younger Gen-Z viewers are discovering songs they may never have heard before, presented in arrangements modern enough to feel fresh but respectful enough to retain authenticity.
In this sense, Pakistan Idol seems to have taken cues from Coke Studio — reviving cultural classics while packaging them for contemporary audiences.
Multi-platform strategy: meeting the audience where they are
Unlike its previous run, this season understands digital reality.
The show is broadcast across multiple national television networks including Geo TV, PTV Home, A-Plus TV, Green Entertainment, and Express Entertainment while simultaneously streaming online via the Begin app. Snippets are uploaded to YouTube, giving each performance a second life — and sometimes a larger audience than television itself.
In a fragmented media environment, this multiplatform approach has been critical to its revival.
A nation starved for cultural release
Pakistan has long faced a shortage of recreational spaces for young people. Dance clubs are rare. Bars are non-existent. Public cultural life is heavily policed — socially and politically.
Add to this decades of identity confusion:
Who are we?
Arabs? Turks? Anything but Indians?
State-sponsored Islamisation, waves of religious extremism, and the policing of music as “haram” have left deep marks on cultural confidence.
Against this backdrop, Pakistan Idol feels like oxygen.
It celebrates music unapologetically. It platforms songwriters, composers, musicians — icons who shaped Pakistani cultural memory. It reminds viewers that Pakistani identity is not imported; it is layered, rich, and musically sophisticated.
The show doesn’t just entertain. It reclaims.
Soft power and cross-border appeal
Scroll through the YouTube comments and you’ll notice something else.
It’s not only Pakistanis watching.
Viewers from Turkey, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Central Asia, the Gulf, and even India are commenting in admiration. They praise the language, the melodies, the truck art aesthetics in the background, the warmth of the judges.
In a region often defined by political tension, music once again functions as soft power.
Pakistan looks confident. Creative. Cultured.
That matters.
From imitation to institution
The first season was mocked for resembling a cheaper copy of Indian Idol. This season is being praised for standing on its own cultural footing.
It now feels less like a franchise experiment and more like a national institution — approaching the cultural weight of Coke Studio.
And its success has already shifted the industry. Rival formats are re-emerging. The Voice Pakistan has reportedly been announced for a 2026 launch by the British franchise owner ITV, suggesting that the revival of Idol may have reignited Pakistan’s competitive music television space.
Competition, in this case, is good news.
More of this, please
For once, Pakistan’s internet is celebrating instead of fighting.
For once, the comment section feels like a choir instead of a battlefield.
For once, talent is the headline.
If this is what cultural confidence looks like, then yes…
Can we please have more of Pakistan Idol?