How an unconventional Pakistani YouTube singer acquired a cult following

With his bizarre music videos, nonsensical lyrics and striking visuals, Pakistani singer Taher Shah has all the makings of a 21st-century YouTube star. So it wasn't suprising when his latest YouTube music video "Angel" generated considerable frezy, trending on social media in India and Pakistan soon after its release this weekend.

Shah rose to fame with his 2013 YouTube song "Eye to Eye", a romantic ballad sung by and starring him. Its absurdity caught the fancy of millions, and gave him a cult following and countless YouTube views. It was ripe for jokes and memes, including a memorably parody by Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh. Released three years later, the new video "Angel" follows a similar formula.

Focusing on the theme of peace and kindness, "Angel" features Shah dressed in a purple robe, crown and wings, roaming around an idylic meadow, with his son and a mysterious female angel, crooning about being a 'mankind's angel'.

The lyrics are simplistic: "I am like an angel, mankind's angel. My heart is like a rose, mankind's soul. Dearest creation, by god. Heaven on earth, mankind's angel. Lonely for you, like angel," and so on.

Soon after its release, the video became the talking point on social media across South Asia. Within 48 hours of the video's release, Shah thanked his fans for giving the video two million views.

A businessman from Karachi, Shah has 147,000 followers on Facebook and 44,000 Twitter followers. His fans applaud his confidence and ability to push the conventional gender roles with his appearance. One even made a video of "Angel" as a soundscape by slowing it by 800%.

Yet Shah's main draw seems to be his "it's so bad it's good" appeal. At first, his videos appear to be ironic, bringing together some of the worst musical and visual clichés, but the singer has said that he is an earnest artiste. In a recent blog post, Shah even explained the ideology behind "Angel". Yet, even without an explanation, his songs' USP remains their catchy and maudlin simplicity.