Zayn Malik, former One Direction singer has decided to form his own direction. Not long ago ZAYN (yes he now goes by all capital letters) released his first single, “PILLOWTALK” which debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard Top 100 and on Friday, March 25th, he released his first solo full length album. Comprised of a hefty 18 songs on the deluxe version (the only one available on Spotify), Mind of Mine is an interesting piece of work to say the least. Here are 11 things you should know:
- His album cover looks just like Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV cover, but ZAYN denies the connection and said on Twitter "My ideas have been with me a long time. Use your brain, appreciate art don't discriminate what you don't understand."
- His music video for “PILLOWTALK” features current girlfriend and model, Gigi Hadid and it’s pretty bad (in a good way). Check it out here:
- ZAYN is definitely not One Direction PG anymore. From “wRoNg” to “SHE DON’T LOVE ME” to “PILLOWTALK” the new ZAYN is dirty and the girls he is with like it.
- The album isn’t fully pop but it isn’t fully R&B either. It’s more a fusion of smooth rhythms and catchy lyrics sung in a drunk haze.
- He’s trying to get back in touch with his Pakistani roots. While ZAYN doesn’t talk about it much, he is half Palestinian and in his song “ INTERMISSION: floWer” he sings in Urdu the whole time, an ode to his dad’s native language.
- It’s all very hazy and drug induced and ZAYN wants you to feel it and know that he embraces it. Plus there are a ton of drug and alcohol references on “dRuNk”, “IUcOzAdE” and “BRIGHT” to name a few.
- Kehlani makes a dope guest appearance on “wRoNg”, which also happens to be one of the dirtiest songs on the album. Check out the lyrics: “I’ll get her wetter than ever/Four letters are never the question/She likes when I’m messy/And I like when she’s undressing”.
- All the songs have some sort of variation of capital letters in their titles. The reason? I have no idea and according to an interview with Beats One Radio, it’s just because he liked how it looked.
- ZAYN speaks honestly throughout most of the album, even if you don’t want to hear it. On “iT’s YoU” he says “She got, she got, she got/Her own reasons for talking to me/She don’t, she don’t, she don’t/Give a fuck about what I need” while on “SHE DON’T LOVE ME” he says “I think I know she don’t love me/That’s why I fuck around”.
- His producer for several of the tracks is Malay AKA James Ryan Ho, who produced a ton of tracks on Frank Ocean’s channel ORANGE.
- Despite mixed reviews, it debuted at #1 on iTunes.
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