Zayn Malik, former member of One Direction, will come to Brazil for the first time since the band’s world tour, “Where We Are Tour”. With the “Konnakol Tour”, the singer will perform a single show in the country on October 10 at Allianz Parque. Zayn announced the tour on February 5, one day after revealing the release of his album. Produced by Live Nation, the tour will feature 32 shows. It will begin in Manchester on May 12, with stops across the United Kingdom before expanding to North and South America, and will end in Miami on November 20, 2026.
After leaving One Direction, Zayn was the only member who did not go on tour until 2024, when he announced the “Stairway to the Sky Tour” to promote his fourth studio album, Room Under the Stairs (2024), which hit No.15 on the Billboard 200 and No. 3 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart. The tour included 27 shows across Europe and North America, mostly in smaller, more intimate venues. Last year, Zayn also featured in the single “Eyes Closed (2025)” with singer Jisoo, a member of the girl group Blackpink.
The “Konnakol Tour” marks his largest solo venture to date and his first time headlining arenas and stadiums across multiple continents.
On February 4, Zayn announced his fifth studio album, Konnakol, which was released on April 17 by Mercury Records. The album blends R&B and alternative pop, carrying a strong cultural and spiritual dimension linked to his origins. Zayn describes it as the most personal project of his career.
The name Konnakol comes from a traditional style practiced mainly in southern India, referring to a form of vocal percussion within Carnatic music.“It’s that time again, I have been lucky enough to make a fifth studio album,” Zayn said in a press statement. “Konnakol, in its definition, is the act of creating percussive sounds with one’s voice, but what it means to me lies somewhere much deeper. It is a sound that holds the reverberation of a time before words existed.”
“I did much of the production using my own voice. I kept adding layers and more layers of vocals to create the beat. When we started doing this, around the first three or four songs, I thought: ‘That’s it, the whole album needs to be like this.’ So I immersed myself in this idea and drew a lot of inspiration from it,”
Into Konnakol
Konnakol is not only a performance style but also a learning tool used by percussionists, instrumentalists, and even jazz and rock musicians around the world. Zayn also stated that through this work, fans will better understand his culture and heritage. His father, Yaser Malik, is British-Pakistani, and he grew up in a Muslim family.
“I have always drawn on my heritage for inspiration since I first started making my own music — this album is a development of that understanding, knowing more now than ever, who I am, where I come from, and where I intend to go”, he said to Billboard.
The album cover has also attracted attention, featuring Zayn’s face morphed with that of a snow leopard. Konnakol includes 15 tracks, including the lead singles “Die For Me” and “Sideways”.
“Die For Me” was released on February 6, shortly after the album and tour announcements. The music video stars Zayn himself and was directed by Frank Borin and Ivanna Borin. The song was written by Zayn and four other composers, recorded in 2022, and produced by the same team behind “Love Like This (2023)”. In March, Zayn released “Sideways”, another single from the album, revealing a more intimate, desire-filled side. Fans speculate that the track may reference his relationship with Gigi Hadid.
After the album release, “Side Effects”, the seventh track, was also released as a single, blending pop and R&B elements with synthesizers and falsetto vocals.
“Nusrat”, the track that opens the album, refers to Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. In the track “Used To The Blues”, we could clearly understand what Zayn said about the musicality and vocal layers that were recorded. “Fatal” has a structure more focused on live performances, and it also has the use of synthesizers. “Blooming”, another track, is softer and brings a little of Zayn’s intimacy; the same thing happens in the “Betting Folk” track, with a soft guitar in the background.
On the day of the release, April 17, Zayn made a post on his Instagram, sharing his state of health with fans. Zayn appears lying on a hospital bed, with a text thanking the support of the fans and the doctors who took care of him.
Zayn was supposed to perform at the Rough Trade Below in New York to promote Konnakol on April 19.
Also, as part of the promotion of the album, Zayn would participate in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on April 21, but it was postponed. Zayn would also be at The Drew Barrymore Show on April 23, but his presence has not been confirmed
The artist also appeared on the cover of the ELLE India magazine.
In addition, Zayn is involved in a road trip documentary for Netflix alongside Louis Tomlinson.
Beyond marking a new phase in his career, Konnakol and its tour represent a moment of artistic reaffirmation for Zayn Malik. By blending cultural influences and a more intimate approach, Malik not only expands his global reach but also invites listeners into a deeper connection with his identity. His performance at Allianz Parque, therefore, stands not just as a long-awaited meeting with Brazilian fans but as the consolidation of an increasingly ambitious and distinctive solo career.
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The article above was edited by Isabelle Bignardi.
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