[2] Qawwali singer Amjad Sabri marked his debut and final appearance with this season shortly before his assassination on 22 June 2016.

[6] On 3 August 2016, a rendition of Madam Noor Jehan's cult-classic song "Zalima Coca-Cola Pila Dey" as a tribute to her, was released with also revealing the premier date of season.

[11] Sharing their idea behind the song, the Coca-Cola team explained, "Coke Studio is all about bridging barriers and bringing people together through music.

Bringing together artists of all ages, cultures and geographies of Pakistan to perform this heartfelt rendition, originally sung by Naseem Begum, was our way of saying thank you.

[13] For the first time in series history, each episode of season was composed and produced by six music directors – Shani Arshad, Noori, Shiraz Uppal, Faakhir Mehmood, Shuja Haider, and Jaffer Zaidi.

[1] For this particular season, all the lined-up artists were selected by assigned music director/producer of each episode for their team with the final approval of Strings,[25] whereas the songs' lyrics and compositions were done by producers.

After the monumental response of season 8, we decided to bring onboard 6 of Pakistan's leading music directors to be a part of Coke Studio.

"[26] Pakistani actors Mehwish Hayat and Junaid Khan made their singing debut in the season,[27][28] while Indian singer Shilpa Rao was announced as a featured artist, under Noori's supervision.

[29] Rao explained, "I met Noori in Delhi for lunch at a common friends’ gathering, we hung out, sang songs together and that is when they asked me to come to Pakistan and sing for Coke Studio.

[32][33] Veteran Qawwali singer Amjad Sabri made his final and debut appearance on Coke Studio,[34] before his death on 22 June 2016 in a targeted killing,[35] where he recorded a rendition of qawali, "Aj Rung Hai" with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

"[34][38] On 30 July 2016, preceding to the launch of season, a special musical segment called "Coke Studio for the Deaf" was launched in association with Deaf Reach program of the Family Education Services Foundation (FESF),[39] for hearing-impaired persons with a setup invented by China that mainly comprises a special sofa/couch embedded with hundreds of vibration engines and LED lights that are synced with the sound of the song being played.

However, despite reaching the masses, an estimated 9 million of our population have some form of hearing impairment, and have not experienced the magic of Coke Studio.

We are really happy that we are now able to make them a part of this unique experience and keep them connected with other people who have been enjoying Coke Studio for the past 8 years.

Coke Studio's new initiative will not only draw a circle to include those who are often marginalized, but serve to create more awareness and acceptance from the mainstream audience, helping them to better understand the challenges faced by those with a hearing impairment.

There are people who will hate, regardless, but all the haters who are talking negative about my Coke Studio debut, saying that I cannot sing, should know and realize that someone like Shiraz Uppal or Faisal and Bilal would not have asked me to perform on one of the most prestigious music platforms if they didn't think I could.

[54] As a part of show launching campaign, the ad featuring a duet of Meesha Shafi and Umair Jaswal called "Zalima Coca-Cola Pila Dey" was released on 3 August 2016, which itself was a rendition of Madam Noor Jehan's song, become instantly hit and successful.

[54] Following the tradition of previous season, Coke Studio released a rendition of Naseem Begum's patriotic song "Aye Rah-e-Haq Ke Shaheedo" as an Independence tribute to Pakistani soldiers and to those who died in 1947 Separation for the creation for Pakistan, and became immediate success both domestically and internationally.

"[64] Singer and actor Ahmed Jahanzeb was also one of the featured artists on Coke Studio who appeared after almost a gap of eight-years on national platform, his duet "Khaki Banda" with Umair Jaswal was highly applauded by critics, commenting on its success Jahanzeb said, "honestly, I was running the kitchen even before the song came out but now that people have appreciated our work so much, I may release a few singles or something, you never know.

Writing for The Express Tribune, Ali Raj gave the episode three and half stars out of five, and commented, "If Strings are still as involved as they were last season, then this is somewhat a redemption.

[73][74] Aspiring singer Abdullah Qureshi took to his official Facebook page and criticised the Coke Studio team for leaving some lyrics from the original song and sang his own version which was met with huge positive response.

[75] Episode three received positive reviews from critics, mostly praising Abida Parveen's "Maula-i-Kull" and Ahmed Jahanzeb performance in "Khaki Banda" duet.

[77] Episode four received widespread critical acclaim, particularly the performance of Mohsin Abbas Haider with the song "Uddi Ja" that he wrote, and composed himself.

"[79] In an enthusiastic review of The Express Tribune Srikanth Prabhu wrote, "Bringing in great diversity of genres, instruments and musicians – the composers have made sure this season stands out," he praised the episodes versatility saying "each song is very different and gracing perfection in its own way.

"[83] Music critic Srikanth Prabhu wrote, "Largely, this was not a disappointing episode for sure and mind you, achieving something like this is no small feat given some of the masterpieces that have emerged this season.

Monina and Asim Azhar's rendition of "Tera Woh Pyaar" and "Nawazishein" re-composed by Shuja Haider, who originally performed them were also praised.