Sex.
Now that I have your attention, let’s bring our focus to ZAYN’s debut album, “Mind Of Mine,” which is practically centered around this one word.
On March 25, 2016, exactly a year after Zayn Malik announced he would be leaving One Direction, he released his solo album.
He told Fader magazine in an interview that, “there was never any room for me to experiment creatively in the band. […] I wasn’t 100 percent behind the music. It wasn’t me.”
ZAYN definitely became more creative with his new album; he went in an entirely different direction than his former band would go (I had to).
It was clear from his first single as a solo artist, “PILLOWTALK,” that ZAYN was a “big boy” now and had different aims for what the content of his music should be.
Right from the start of this song, which was released on Jan. 29, the topic was obvious: the paradise and war zone in bed.
The lyrics go, “Yeah, reckless behavior. A place that is so pure, so dirty and raw. Be in the bed all day… F****** in, fighting on.”
ZAYN is just one of the many examples of artists nowadays that try to conform to the sex-driven society we live in, especially among the youth.
I understand that ZAYN is 22 and he is free to pursue whatever he desires, but most of his fans do come from One Direction, a lot of them young teens. What example does he set for them?
Other songs in the album that added more evidence to ZAYN’s new approach were “TiO” and “SHE DON’T LOVE ME,” both vocalizing about “taking clothes off” and “bringing bodies closer together,” as if that were the only important part of a relationship.
However, there were some songs that were better than others, such as “tRuTh.” This song draws attention to how the truth always comes out, no matter how much one tries to bury it. It becomes a “game,” as ZAYN sang, when one lies and keeps covering it up, a game he wouldn’t want to play. And no one should.
Another aspect of the album was that it sounded like a 45-minute-long song; it was confusing to figure out when a song stopped and when another one started.
It was much of the same style, beat, and rhythm, all except for “PILLOWTALK,” which was the only one with different, yet good background music.
ZAYN has clearly chosen a new direction (it was inevitable) when it comes to music. Whether he should be acknowledged for pursing his ambitions or repudiated for focusing on sex depends on one’s overall view of him as an artist.
After all, ZAYN was just sharing with us that mind of his.
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