After the British megastar left One Direction due to wanting to be a “normal 22-year-old,” he released his first solo album EXACTLY ONE YEAR after leaving the band. Can we talk about throwing shade! I know I’m not the only one who felt the heart break on March 25th, 2015 when it was released that Zayn would be leaving the boy band. Just a week ago on March 25th, 2016 he released his very first album as a one piece, and let me just say that he is definitely not that innocent little teenager any more.
We now know that the real reason Zayn left 1D was because he was unhappy with the pop sound the band is notoriously known for. He wanted to make his own R&B sounds and that is exactly what he accomplished. But come one now… did he really have to release it on the exact day that the band “broke up.” Someone likes to be a little passive aggressive.
The first thing you notice about the album is the track list. All of his songs on the album have random capitalization or are all capitalized. ThEY loOk a LITtlE SoMEthiNg liKe tHIs. He was asked about why he did this and simply stated that it was because he “liked the way it looked,” and nothing more. He is already such a confusing creature, can we really be surprised by this?
You may also notice that six of the 18 tracks have been listed as “EXPLICIT.” This is something that you would have never expected from a One Direction album. He proves himself over and over again that he has definitely developed throughout these tracks. His topics are not only sensual and sexy but his lyrics have unmistakably matured. Not to mention his steamy music video with his leading lady, Gigi Hadid. I can confidently say that he achieved the goal of making 99% of his fans extremely jealous.
My personal favorite is “rEaR vIeW.” Yes, this is how he likes to write it out, it’s just him being problematic again. “INTERMISSION: fLoWeR,” sounds to me like it should be in the background of a horror film. Although not all of his songs are my cup of tea, it’s amazing to see how far he has come since his X Factor days.
Will Zayn become the new Justin Timberlake after he left NSYNC? How long will Harry, Louis, Liam and Niall continue on as a four piece? I’m not sure, but what I do know is that I will be continuing to jam out to “Mind Of Mine” religiously until the other four boys decide to come back from their hiatus. Until then, there is always five One Direction albums, four of which include Zayn’s heavenly high notes, to soothe the pain.