Zayn, formerly Zayn Malik of One Direction, has released his third solo album since parting ways with the group with this latest effort entitled ‘Nobody is Listening.’ The album is short and sweet with 11 tracks and a running length of 35 minutes. The album cover features graffiti-style lettering a hand drawn effect image which consists of a sea of multicoloured faces with no facial features except for white pupil less eyes.
The album is true to Zayn as an artist who strives for individuality and there is a large enough space between this album and any of the One Direction oeuvre to allow this to be seen as a statement of an individual and it stands on its own merit. ‘Nobody Is Listening,’ is true to the R&B style which Zayn has been known for since launching his solo career with creative drum patterns and throbbing bass front and centre and acrobatic vocal feats galore. There is something conceptual to the album from the rough edged rap-style intro track ‘Calamity,’ with premiers the title phrase, to the tension soaked ‘Sweat,’ and unshakable ‘Unfuckwitable,’ which rattles with post-boyband attitude.
It’s too early to say how Zayn’s third album will be received by his fans and the general public, however it is clear that he has a long way to go if he is to recapture the breakthrough success of 2016 debut ‘Mind of Mine,’ which was a UK number one album and charted for a whopping ten weeks. Not only did he score a hit album with his breakthrough, Zayn also scored a number one single with ‘PILLOWTALK,’ which outlasted the album by sticking in the UK singles charts for an incredible 28 weeks. The track’s success is reflected in his Spotify stats which record a stunning 893 million streams for ‘PILLOWTALK,’ a figure which is only outmatched by his collaboration with Sia for his second album ‘Icarus Falls,’ and that only by 2017’s pairing with Taylor Swift for ‘I Don’t Wanna Live Forever,’ which was recorded for the Fifty Shades Darker Soundtrack, a song which has been streamed over a billion times.
While a number of years have now passed since One Direction parted ways, with Zayn’s departure coming slightly sooner than the rest, any solo release is bound to invite comparisons with fellow Syco alumni Harry Styles, who has also been carving out a successful solo career in the years since the band’s hiatus began. While the styles which both singers have carved out for themselves since departing the band could not be more different, one thing which is similar is the roaring success both have achieved in their own right. Harry Styles’ second solo effort ‘Fine Line,’ landed last year and standout track ‘Watermelon Sugar,’ has also reached the billion streams on Spotify milestone, stiff competition for Zayn who has yet to reach this level with an album track without any featured artists.
‘Nobody Is Listening,’ can be streamed or purchased here via Youtube, Spotify or any other major platform.
