Armaan Malik: 'There is a line between art and activism’

Armaan Malik

Wildfires swept through southern California in the US, floods devastated parts of Brazil, and an unrelenting heatwave is being experienced in South Asia. All of this, in the first four months of 2025. With the climate crisis fast becoming the backdrop of our lives, many of us have wondered, ‘How did we get here? What can we do, moving forward?' Armaan Malik says his next single, What in the world, is born from these questions.

When we get on a call with Malik, he says that he arrived at the single after a personal wake-up call. The singer-composer-songwriter recalls, "The stillness during the pandemic made me reflect on how disconnected we had become from nature and each other. During that phase, I wrote this song."

Ed Sheeran with Armaan Malik. Pics/Instagram

Keeping its theme in mind, What in the world will be released on Earth Day, April 22. For the musician, the track is his way to urge people to pay attention to Mother Earth. What baffles him is that the pressing issue is not addressed enough. "I don't think there is a lot of urgency around us with regard to the degradation of our planet. However, music has the power to reach many people around the world, and as an artist and someone who deeply cares about the world we live in, I hope to bring that much-needed awareness through this track. There is a line between art and activism, and I see that. With What in the world, I felt a responsibility to not only entertain, but also start a conversation about what we're doing to our planet," he shares.

Malik says that living in today's day and age, it's almost impossible to not feel a gnawing anxiety about the climate crisis. "There are days I wake up, scroll through the news, and it just hits me - this sense of ‘what are we even doing?' What in the world doesn't come from a place of answers, it comes from sitting with that feeling - the confusion, the grief, but also that flicker of hope that maybe music can spark something, even if it's just a conversation."

Malik's discography is largely populated by romantic numbers, from Main hoon hero tera (Hero, 2015) to Bol do na zara (Azhar, 2016) and Jazbaati hai dil (Do Aur Do Pyaar, 2024). The latest pop/rock song can be seen as him pivoting to a new sound. The change, he says, was organic, given the subject at hand. "The urgency of the message called for something bolder. The message is strong, and going into a pop/rock-backed chorus felt like the right sound to carry that emotional weight. I hope after listening to the song, people ask themselves, ‘What am I doing to help this planet heal?'"

A milestone for Malik
In February this year, Armaan Malik opened Ed Sheeran's concert in Hyderabad. The two previously collaborated on the song, 2Step

2020
The year Armaan Malik ventured into English music with Control