As someone who’s been an avid lover of One Direction for quite some time now, I mourned with the rest of the fandom when Zayn Malik decided to leave the band on March 25th, 2015. I remember where I was when the news broke, receiving texts from friends who were slightly concerned for my well-being that day, and even finding myself embarassingly shedding a tear or two (or three) while watching those sad videos that 1d fans made to highlight on Zayn’s time with the band and all of the beautiful memories they shared together.
Fast forward to almost a year later and it seems that everyone has moved on. Niall, Harry, Liam and Louis are currently on a hiatus from touring and making music together and have openly expressed that ties with Malik have pretty much been cut, fans in the meantime have been enjoying the band’s first album as a four-piece- “Made in the A.M,” and Zayn has decided that he’s finally ready to reveal himself a solo artist to the world when just over a week ago when he released his first single, “Pillowtalk.”
Being that I have spent the last couple of years being a dedicated fan to the guys, I pretty much felt obligated to stay up until midnight for the release of the song and music video. I decided to listen to the song first, this way when I watched the video, I would be able to pay attention more to the visuals since I had already heard the audio. Both the song and the video are raunchy, raw, and real- three things that Malik was undeniably aiming to achieve in shedding away the “boy band” persona that he was so anxiously awaiting to get rid of.
Put plain and simple, the song is about relationships, the good and the bad, and definitely highlights mostly on the sexual aspect that relationships entail. With lyrics like “f****n and fighting on, it’s a paradise and it’s a warzone.” Malik would certainly know of both of the pros and cons of relationships as this past summer, he ended his two year engagement with Little Mix superstar, Perrie Edwards and has recently started dating model, Gigi Hadid. Speaking of, Hadid is the female star that Malik decided to feature in his very first video which entailed a whole lot of couple-y things like fighting and then making up at the end when they make out.
So, what are my thoughts? While the song is definitely different from anything that One Direction have produced, it’s definitely a song that sounds right coming out of Zayn Malik’s mouth if you understand the kind of music he has admitted to wanting to make. Malik’s musical roots are in R&B and he definitely achieved that in this song and gave fans what I believe is going to be a good insight as to what to expect from his new album, coming out on March 25th this year. Yup, March 25th- the one-year anniversary of Malik’s departure from One Direction. He claims it just fell that way with iTunes, but fans are smart enough to know that this certainly isn’t just a coincidence. Nice try though, Zayn, nice try.
If you haven’t seen the video, check it out here: