In the wake of her Grammy win for Best Global Music Performance and Grammy nomination for Best New Artist for last year’s [2021] Vulture Prince, Arooj Aftab releases Vulture Prince (Deluxe Edition)...

For those who bought and loved Vulture Prince, here's an opportunity to revisit the album, but be warned, the only difference is one additional track, 'Udhero Na'. To be honest, this feels like a bit of a kick in the face to Aftab's fans who want the song but don't want to shell out to buy the same album. I think a better way of releasing this would have been to have waited until her new LP was ready.

While I did enjoy it, as a whole, I did find myself zoning out quite a lot. However, I did sit up and take notice during 'Inayaat' as there's a short passage that sounded eerily familiar to Howard Shore's main theme to David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers (1988).

While it is a beautiful album, sadly this "Deluxe Edition" just feels like a desperate cash grab to squeeze more revenue out of her fans.

5

Nick Smithson