Shabnam by Maanu and Zoha Waseem: Coke Studio Nu.WAV song hits 16 million views in 5 days
Coke Studio Nu.WAV's Shabnam, by Maanu and Zoha Waseem and produced by Talal Qureshi, passed 16 million YouTube views in five days. Credits and meaning.
Shabnam, the new Coke Studio Nu.WAV song by Maanu and Zoha Waseem, crossed 16.3 million views on Coke Studio Pakistan’s YouTube channel by Friday afternoon, five days after it went up on October 18. It has been on YouTube’s trending list in Pakistan all week, and it is the fourth of six songs in this year’s Nu.WAV series.
Who made Shabnam?
The credits on the official upload are clear:
- Singers: Maanu and Zoha Waseem
- Lyrics: Maanu and Zoha Waseem
- Composer and co-producer: Maanu
- Producer: Talal Qureshi, who also mixed it and arranged it with Maanu
- Mastering: Sean Tallman
- Executive producer: Kamal Khan
- Video: directed by Fida Moin, produced by Gali Films, distributed by Warner Music MENA
The song started as an unfinished idea between Talal Qureshi and Maanu, and Zoha joined later, The Express Tribune and The Nation reported.
What is the song about?
Shabnam means morning dew, the thing that is there at dawn and gone before you can hold it. That is the whole mood of the track. It is a conversation between two people who remember the same relationship differently. Maanu sings from suspicion and unanswered questions; Zoha comes back with her own version of events. Neither side wins, and the song is deliberately left unresolved, according to the Tribune.
The hook line on the official upload, “Meri Shabnam, ab bichhadna na” (my dew, don’t leave me now), says it in five words: a plea to keep something that is already slipping.
Kamal Khan told The Nation the song “had this tension in it from the beginning”, and that is what you hear. Maanu’s soft, half-spoken delivery against Zoha’s classically trained voice makes the argument feel real rather than staged. Talal’s beat stays restrained, so the voices carry it.
The video: a birthday party gone strange
Fida Moin’s video sets the song in a grey, concrete house that draws on Brutalism and German Expressionism, with production design by Tanya Mirza. Everyday objects start to look sinister from Maanu’s point of view, and it all builds to a birthday party that falls apart. Talal Qureshi turns up as the DJ who walks into the middle of it. It is funny and uneasy at the same time, which suits a song about not trusting what you see.
Why it caught on
All three artists arrive with big audiences. Maanu’s breakthrough was Jhol with Annural Khalid on Coke Studio 15. Zoha Waseem’s Majboor went viral online, and Talal Qureshi produced Peechay Hutt for Coke Studio 14. Shabnam combines those fan bases, and short clips of the chorus have been travelling on social media.
What’s next for Nu.WAV
Shabnam follows Dil, Rangeen and Maheya. Two more Nu.WAV songs are due in the coming weeks, Coke Studio says, so the series is not done yet.
Sources
This story was researched and drafted with AI assistance, then checked and edited by our editor before publishing.
