Rutaba Yaqub is a

Saudi Saudi or Saudi Arabian may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud, the ruling family of Saudi Arabia See also *Saud (disambiguation) The House of Saud The H ...

-born singer of Pakistani descent, based in Pakistan. Her big break came on the television series ''

Nescafé Basement ''Nescafé Basement'' is a Pakistani music television series which features studio-recorded performances by underground and emerging artists. The show is produced by Nescafé. The artists are recruited and mentored by Xulfi, who is also the mu ...

'', and she later went on to compete in the ''

Pepsi Battle of the Bands ''Pepsi Battle of the Bands'' is a Pakistani television series, originally based on the concept of Battle of the Bands, first aired in 2002 on PTV Home. The show was revived in 2017. Season 1 ''Pepsi Battle of the Bands: Season 1'' aired in J ...

''.

Career

Rutaba Yaqub was born in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

and moved to

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

in 2010, to study computer engineering at the

University of Central Punjab The University of Central Punjab (Urdu: ''یونیورسٹی آف سنٹرل پنجاب'') or UCP is a private university located on Khayaban-e-Jinnah Road, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. History On 15 August 1996, the Punjab Group of Colleges, ...

. While there, she began singing publicly and was discovered by music producer

Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan Zulfiqar "Xulfi" Jabbar Khan (born 28 October 1980) is a Pakistani composer, singer-songwriter, music producer and a guitarist. Starting his career in 1994, Khan is the recipient of multiple awards in Pakistan. He is currently working on the te ...

(also known as Xulfi). She began working as a backing singer on Xulfi's television series ''

''. ''

The Express Tribune ''The Express Tribune'' is a daily English-language newspaper based in Pakistan. It is the flagship publication of the '' Lakson Group'' media group. It is Pakistan's only internationally affiliated newspaper in a partnership with the '' Intern ...

'' considered her one of two breakout acts of the show's first two seasons, while Yaqub felt that without the show she would not have pursued a musical career. Yaqub started to write her own songs, but that career path risked closing when her family began to pressure her to return to Saudi Arabia following her graduation from University. She decided to remain in Pakistan, and used the experience as inspiration for her song writing on her first EP ''Échapper'' (French for escape). Her parents are supportive of her ongoing singing career. Yaqub received further exposure after recording a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...

's " The Scientist" which was streamed online several thousand times. Her first single from ''Échapper'' was entitled "Hold On". Following the death of singer turned preacher

Junaid Jamshed Junaid Jamshed Khan (3 September 1964 – 7 December 2016) was a Pakistani Islamic preacher, singer-songwriter and television personality. Jamshed first gained nationwide and international recognition as the vocalist of Vital Signs. Their ...

, Yaqub spoke of her shock to ''

Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programmi ...

''. In 2017, she appeared on ''

'' on

PTV Home PTV Home HD is a Pakistani free-to-air television channel owned by the Pakistan Television Corporation. It also broadcast as a Terrestrial television. History PTV Home started broadcasting on 26 November 1964 in West Pakistan and on 25 Decem ...

finishing third as part of the band Roots, who played a mixture of

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

and

progressive pop Progressive pop is pop music that attempts to break with the genre's standard formula, or an offshoot of the progressive rock genre that was commonly heard on AM radio in the 1970s and 1980s. It was originally termed for the early progressive ...

. Her solo recordings are entirely in English, and more in the

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

genre. Yaqub met the other members of the band, who were all in a group called Wisdom Salad, through the

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

Moe Nawaz, and she invited them to join her on the show. Yaqub had been known as Roots previously, but after lending that name to the band, she now plays solo under her own name. The band came third overall in the contest. Yaqub along with several others also sang with

Meesha Shafi Meesha Shafi () is a Pakistani-born Canadian singer, actress and model.Mother's Day Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in Mar ...

tribute song.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yaqub, Rutaba Living people Singing talent show contestants University of Central Punjab alumni 21st-century Pakistani women singers 21st-century Pakistani singers Year of birth missing (living people) Pakistani expatriates in Saudi Arabia