By now, you must have definitely heard of Pepsi Battle of the Bands and Kashmir. With the competition now tied down to two bands, Kashmir and Badnaam, it’s tighter than ever.

Each musician is trying their best to impress the judges and the audience (because at the end of the day, it’s the audiences’ votes that will take them to the final step of winning the coveted trophy, album deal and nationwide tour, no pressure). While Kashmir and Badnaam battle it out on the musical war zone, that is Pepsi Battle of the Bands, the decisions don’t get any easier.

The latest episode took us on another such roller coaster ride

The first round of the episode started off with both bands presenting mashups of songs, and both Badnaam and Kashmir did it absolute justice. Badnaam went for their usual Sufi feels, covering Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sahab, Abida Parveen ji, and an original

While Kashmir decided to change things up a little with two of the biggest musical classics: Aadat and Aitebaar, that they called Ankahi. The judges absolutely loved both performances and fell head over heels with the way Kashmir changed up both the songs while keeping their original essence.

The second round was absolutely iiiiiinsane, as well

Both bands had to present an original song and Badnaam went all mystic on us with a kalam from Baba Bulleh Shah, Kalyaan Ishq, and just…gave us so many feels. Also HOLY, they changed up their music style and we’re in love.

Alsoooo, WE HAD ANOTHER STANDING OVATION. Remember how Badnaam got the first SO of the season when they covered the not-so-cult classic Bismillah Karan, and the judges couldn’t handle it? Kashmir got one in the second song

Kashmir whipped out their original song Kaaghaz Ka Jahaaz, and it was nothing like we’ve ever heard before

To quote Atif Aslam, ‘the best thing about Kashmir’s music is that it’s unpredictable’. You never know what’s coming your way, and WE WERE NOT READY FOR THIS. The band and the judges were smiling and laughing throughout the animatedly feel-good performance

(Also, Vais, nice air-kick thingiemajig)

The Kashmir boys went into full Coldplay vibes with their song and had the judges and the audience were in love from the first note

Whether it was the lyrics of the song, which were simple, yet relatable (and made Fawad almost swear on national television)

Or the fact that the band was having SO

MUCH

FUN playing the song

The boys got a standing ovation from the judges, free hugs from Atif and tears in their eyes after the performance and critique was over

We were all waiting for something like this from Kashmir, given the fact that their video with ~us~ had them all chirpy and jumping around.

Apart from that perfect performance, we also got to see one our biggest stars, Uzair Jaswal, tearing up the stage as well.

So cute

Amazing music

Coming from both Kashmir and Badnaam (you’re doing great, boys)

AND Call all in one episode

Don’t know about you but watching Junaid rip out Jilawatan in that crazy voice of his took us back 10 years to when we were headbanging at Call concerts.

Here’s the link to the latest episode, in case you missed it!

Pssst, btw!

Voting began this Saturday the 9th at 12:00 PM and will end at Monday the 11th at midnight.

Whiiiiiich meeeeeeeans, you all have the chance to vote for your favourite band! All you have to do is:

SMS on 8462 and type “K” to vote for Kashmir and “B” to vote for Badnaam. You can also vote on the website, www.pepsibattleofthebands.com.

It’s that easy, friends.

SoOoOo make sure you stay tuned over the weekend and vote for your favourite band to see them win in next week’s season finale!

We love the fact that band culture is back, up and running in Pakistan, and here’s hoping it never fades away again. ALSO GOOD LUCK BADNAAM AND KASHMIR. No matter who wins this battle, we’re looking forward to aaaall of your music!! What did you think of the episode today?

Cover image via Pepsi Pakistan