So the battle came to an end, and there have been tremendous highs all through the season! This time, all the bands which came through were immensely talented, and had put up a great show ever since the audition round – but in the end, it all came down to the mighty two, Aarish and Auj. The last episode was a celebration of the entire Pepsi Battle of the Band’s journey, and of music as a whole along with announcing who emerged as the victor after the audience voting!

But did you ever imagine Kashmir and Bayaan performing together? Honestly, it was a dream and this performance was something we never knew we needed in our lives. 

The two brilliant bands came together to perform a mashup called Dhaltay Rahay, in what was a performance as immersive as virtual reality and as wholesome as Andre Rieu’s Johann Strauss Orchestra by the 11 men on stage, it set the mood perfectly for the magnificent occasion of the coronation of the Pepsi Battle of the Bands season four crown-bearer.

Next up was the performance for the ages, Abu Mohammad & Farid Ayaz along with Shahi Hasan and Maria Unera – a truly unprecedented collaboration for the ages.

As rightly put up by the artists, Jaag Musafir which fused spoken word, rap, and qawwali composed by Hasan four years ago built a connection between the traditional and the contemporary, the old and the new and to bridge the gap between the previous generations and the current one.

The episode had its fair share of cute moments, and we met the families of Aarish band members, who recounted their childhood anecdotes.

The band members, then, also traced through their whole journey going back to Pepsi Battle of the Bands season two, and performed for the last time this season on the stage, in front of not just the audience and the judges, but their families as well! Their original Pukaar, a tribute to their journey and memories, earned them their last standing ovation of the season and Aarish went out with a bang.

After establishing a theatrical tradition on Pepsi Battle of the Bands with Mein last year, Meesha Shafi returned to follow up on it with a performance of Leila.

The word ‘Leila’, as Shafi explained, comes from Sanskrit and the poetry revolves around a conversation between a girl and the moon. Staying true to the poetic essence of the verses, the performance was as dreamy as they come with Shafi’s costume sending us all out into a soulful trance. Meesha said how we’d feel we just woke up from a dream when the song ends and honestly, she couldn’t have been more right!

Coming back to the finalists, we met the families of Auj band members, who talked about their stories and struggles and the band’s incredible rise.

“12 hazaar ki salary seh meinay 12 hazaar ka guitar khareeda,” showed us the amount of struggles each of the band members went through for the sake of their passion. Each of the members narrated their stories of how far they’ve come, and all of that is truly reflected in the brilliance of the music they make!

The finalist band then performed their original called Aansu as the last performance of this season, which again earned them a standing ovation.

Just when you think that the episode couldn’t peak further, Fawad Khan comes to the stage to prove you wrong!

Now, of course, it couldn’t be Pepsi Battle of the Bands finale without having Fawad Khan perform – and you know he would never fail to make us scream in awe, just that this time we cried a little bit also because with him came Xulfi and ALL OF THOSE EP FEELS CAME RUSHING IN! A complete flash down memory lane, Uth Jaag was a timeless performance bringing together rock with electronic music. The song narrated a conversation an individual and time itself, and was complete with a theatrical laser light performance with VFX, strobe effects, neon costumes, EVERYTHING! All of my money on this performance, TBH. It couldn’t have had been better!

Speaking of timeless, the veterans of the industry, the timeless duo of Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia, Strings performed a new original called Hum Aaye in what was the episode last performance.

And what a way to end the season! They performed a completely new, never heard before song, which was an anthem for the youth – saying that we can overcome anything if we all work together. A brilliant rock number with the Strings magic has us all in a trance!

Then it was time for what we have been waiting for the last two months: the results and to everyone’s excitement and expectations, Auj took the crown!

The hosts called on stage the marketing director of PepsiCo Saad Munawar to share a few words and award the trophy to the winner. He spoke of the need to produce original music in Pakistan and how Pepsi is serving that purpose. With Auj being crowned the Pepsi Battle of the Bands season four winner, they join a prestigious lineup of previous crown-bearers in Aaroh, Kashmir and Bayaan. Here’s to Auj, Aarish, and most importantly, the rise of original music thanks to Pepsi!

What did you think about the entire season? Let us know in the comments!

This post has been sponsored by Pepsi Pakistan. Cover Image Courtesy Pepsi Pakistan