Arooj Aftab has released a new Khruangbin remix of her song “raat ki rani.”
Khruangbin and Aftab began work on the new version of the latter’s single shortly after finishing a 2024 tour together. Aftab will continue the tour this year, playing a number of festivals—including Knoxville’s Big Ears and Tennessee’s Bonnaroo—in addition to European and UK shows in London, Belfast, Budapest, Rome, Milan and Brighton. In May 2024, she also co-curated the experimental Dutch music festival Le Guess Who?, booking performances from herself, her father, Meshell Ndegeocello, Dina El Wedidi and more.
First released in 2024, “raat ki rani” draws heavy inspiration from Brazilian maracatu music, which in turn incorporates distinctly nineties and noughties-style house grooves—it marked Aftab’s first use of vocal autotune. The song’s release was accompanied by a music video, directed by Tessa Thompson.
“‘Raat Ki Rani’ is about a person whose allure, magnetism, and charisma floats through a beautiful evening garden party,” Aftab said at the time.
The record acted as the lead single of Aftab’s Grammy-nominated album, Night Reign, which arrived in May 2024 on Verve Records. It followed her acclaimed 2021 record Vulture Pride, which won a Grammy for Best Global Music Performance in 2022 and made Aftab the first-ever Pakistani musician to win a Grammy.
Night Reign featured guests including Philadelphia-based poet and musician Moor Mother; Ohio-based singer-songwriter-producer Cautious Clay; and composer and pianist Vijay Iyer. Iyer and Aftab previously worked together as the trio Love In Exile with multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily. Their self-titled debut record was released in 2023 to critical acclaim, earning two Grammy nominations for Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Global Music Performance (for the song “Shadow Forces.”)
