Princess Annie: Back with Boom Boom post-split

Pop singer took a year-long break to recover from marriage scandal.

The release of Annie Khalid’s pop album Princess in 2006 got her instant attention. Her tight curls and girl-next-door attitude too, played a role in bringing her into the limelight. The pop scene in Pakistan is male-dominated and when the attractive young girl released her first single, everyone wanted to know who she was. Unfortunately, she disappeared from the scene for almost a year after her marriage but is now back with a new single called Boom Boom Danze, featuring Beenie Man.

Although she says she won’t twerk, the video which was released earlier this week shows her shaking a leg next to Beenie Man in the dance number.

Annie is currently busy launching a new musical career in Britain, but she has realised its time to come to terms with her annulled marriage. The star, who sold around five million records in Pakistan, speaks about what happened. “Every little girl has a dream of how her wedding will be. I thought I might at least be conscious,” she tells the Independent in an interview. Last year, Annie tied the knot with businessman Malik Noreed Awan and at their wedding, a brawl broke out between the police and residents due to the celebration running late into the night. Police arrested 15 members of Khalid’s family and friends. She was taken to the hospital as she was in shock.

Being married to Awan wasn’t a ride in the park either, she says. She accused him of kicking and punching her as well as making her submit to ‘murga’ — a punishment in which the victim is forced into a painful squatting position. Annie admits she feared for her life and fled to Essex to escape him.

Living the dream

Annie says she can stay connected to her Muslim roots while projecting the glamourous image the Western music industry requires. “I pray five times a day. I don’t need to prove to anyone that I’m a good Muslim,” she tells the Economic Times. “I won’t be twerking because I don’t think it’s cool. But if Miley Cyrus wants to do it, that’s great.”

The pop star is also a staunch defender of Muslim womens’ right to wear face veils in public and will also present a documentary in which she travels across the world to reveal the changing face of Pakistani women.

“Most of my songs are now about being happy and grateful for being alive,” she adds. Annie wants to collaborate with singers like Ellie Goulding and M.I.A. as well. “India and Pakistan, [I will] take you to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and then the Maldives and Mauritius — it’s great to be an Asian musician right now because there are massive markets out there,” she says.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2013.

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