Bilal Maqsood returns to music with ‘O’ Re Saajna’ and calls on a special friend for the music video

Bilal Maqsood is back in the music studio and this time he has a friend with him.

The singer made his anticipated return to music with his latest single ‘O’ Re Saajna’, which was released on Friday.

The song is a slow, melancholic number about lost love and the memories it leaves behind in its wake. The soft acoustic tones are reminiscent of Maqsood’s peak as a musician when his love songs as part of Strings were at the top of everyone’s playlists.

His sweet voice does well to serenade listeners, with the Urdu lyrics really getting the message across emotionally.

Now, while he wrote, composed and sang ‘O’ Re Saajna’, the singer was notably absent from the music video. Instead, we got BM, the adorable, forlorn puppet version of Maqsood, who is arguably the best thing about the entire release.

BM spends the video reminiscing about what we imagine is another puppet he fell in love with but had to leave behind. In his state of desolation, he goes to the beach to clear his head and when that doesn’t work, he wanders the streets of Karachi as if he were looking for something — we can’t really tell what.

While much of his audience knows Maqsood for his music, especially his work with Faisal Kapadia as part of Strings, the singer is also an accomplished puppeteer. He is the force behind Pakkay Dost, a locally made children’s TV puppet show — think Sesame Street, but in Pakistan. He’s used the platform to promote Urdu as a language and even taught lessons on inclusivity.

So, naturally, he was the hand behind BM, which makes the whole thing even better, we get to see Maqsood blend two of his art forms together to make something truly special.