The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

Write for Us
Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
Print Issues
Write for Us
Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
Print Issues

Zayn’s First Solo Album Proves He Still Has A Lot Of Growing Up To Do

Zayns+First+Solo+Album+Proves+He+Still+Has+A+Lot+Of+Growing+Up+To+Do

Many know Zayn Malik as one of the heartthrobs from British boy band One Direction. In an attempt to break free from the boy band cage, however Malik last month released his first solo album, titled “Mind Of Mine,” under the name “Zayn.”

The album is obviously an attempt at growing up for Malik, and one has to admit that his voice is not bad. Those preteen girls swooned for a reason. His attempt at maturity is where the album goes wrong, however. While trying to come across as more grown-up, Malik ends up making himself look like a sloppy teenager many times throughout the album. His lyrics, in an attempt to prove his status as a “grown man,” are filled with one thing only: girls.

How is this a change from One Direction? Well, instead of talking only about kissing and looking at girls, Malik now croons about getting down and dirty with them. This may shock his 12-year-old fangirls, but to the rest of us, it’s simply uninteresting. We’ve heard it a million times in a million different ways across the airwaves.

 

Some of the songs on the album come across as flat ballads that leave the listener sick and tired of all the crooning.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSlK9nwAm5c

 

Malik’s album also appears to be attempt to set himself apart from the mainstream Disney world he has been immersed in for so long. This attempt at edginess is illustrated by his choice to capitalize random letters in his song titles and by spelling some of these song titles wrong. It looks a bit juvenile but does cause people to do a double-take to try to read something more into the titles than is there, so this may have been a decent move on Malik’s part.

Though the concept of the album itself, as well as many of the lyrics, may fall short of anything incredible, there is a glint of potential hidden deep within the work.

“BeFoUr” gives listeners this glimpse of something potentially good to come. Also “INTERMISSION: fLoWer,” gives listeners a sound that sounds almost like a chant or mantra. If only this intermission were longer, it could be a stand-out track, but it gives us some hope for Malik all the same.

 

If you are a One Direction fan, you will probably like this album by Zayn. If you are not a One Direction fan, chances are that you won’t find anything particularly thrilling about this solo project. Malik shows he is at least trying to set himself apart from the pack, however, and one has to applaud him for this step and his silky vocals, no matter how repetitive.

[email protected]

@unchained116

Leave a Comment

Comments (0)

The Daily Utah Chronicle welcomes comments from our community. However, the Daily Utah Chronicle reserves the right to accept or deny user comments. A comment may be denied or removed if any of its content meets one or more of the following criteria: obscenity, profanity, racism, sexism, or hateful content; threats or encouragement of violent or illegal behavior; excessively long, off-topic or repetitive content; the use of threatening language or personal attacks against Chronicle members; posts violating copyright or trademark law; and advertisement or promotion of products, services, entities or individuals. Users who habitually post comments that must be removed may be blocked from commenting. In the case of duplicate or near-identical comments by the same user, only the first submission will be accepted. This includes comments posted across multiple articles. You can read more about our comment policy at https://dailyutahchronicle.com/comment-faqs/.
All The Daily Utah Chronicle Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *