In 2025, Pakistani pop culture is a shiny version of softcore propaganda with a glossy finish. From hijabis posting lip syncs to trap songs, ISPR-funded web series going viral, surveillance under the pretence of patriotism, and Instagram Reels with nationalist EDM music in the background, Pakistan’s culture is not evolving; rather, it is helping in blurring the lines between resistance and performance.
The rise of hijabi influencers and the commercialisation of religious items, such as prayer mats, hijabs, and abayas—once considered sacred—have now turned into backdrops for influencers’ content. These brands sell piety as a choice and a lifestyle, reducing its spiritual and political meaning.
The same formula applies to music. Hypernationalist anthems demanding patriotism, with every drone shot and beat drop perfectly curated down to the last second. It is an aesthetic spectacle, a soft power flex misinterpreted as an empowering movement.
TikTok is yet another form of media consumed by millions daily. Doomscrolling for hours, the viewer fails to notice the simmering class anxiety underneath all the aesthetic coffee videos and latest Daraz finds. Creators from less fortunate backgrounds, mouthing raunchy Punjabi songs on their roofs, are labelled as ‘Paindus’ and dismissed, mocked even, by children of the upper class, while the upper class gets away with everything. In this state, money drowns religion and morals.
Every scandal, every gossip-based headline, is a distraction from the real problems faced by our nation every single day. Celebrity breakups trend more than political crises. It has reached the extent where the state does not even need to ban or censor these situations, as it takes public criticism away from their political blunders. The masses are glued to their screens, binge-watching the latest ISPR-funded drama on Green TV, repackaging repression as prestige.
In the end, maybe this is set to be our future: prayer mats and beads as background props, trap music packaged as patriotism, and TikTok as the new parliament. Censorship is forgone, for who needs it when the masses scroll past crisis for the latest trends?
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