Along with Harry Styles, Zayn is one of the stars to emerge from the immensely successful boy-band One Direction. Now no longer a mere ‘boy’, he’s part of a mainstream in which music is carefully fashioned to gleam, the product of artisans of the kind of pop that reaches the widest possible audience – uncannily astute talent-spotters such as Simon Cowell and super-producers that hold the keys to dressing the songs up with catchy hooks, appealing riffs and contagious rhythms.
Pop is now an industrialised hit-machine, with a seemingly endless supply of singer and songwriters trained in specialised academies, groomed from their teenage years to fire up the dance-floor and play to the need to nourish heartache and love. The roots go back far – and they draw and recycle winning sounds that draw from the Beatles to Disco, from Madonna to Prince, from Latin and world music to house.
The hits of today sometimes feel – as with the K-Pop girl band Blackpink – uncannily close to something as music concocted by the algorithms that work with what the audience enjoys most. There is much talk about the threat of AI generated music, but we are, in a disturbing way, all to ready to embrace its comforting predictability.
Even though he has collaborated with the South Korean hit-makers and their vocalist Jisoo, and there are moments on the album – not least in song intros that sound formulaic, Zayn is different, in that he has been immersed in Pakistani music and Bollywood. On his new album he is wonderfully served by the LA producer Malay (known for his work with Frank Ocean) who cooks up sounds that complement Zayn’s extraordinary vocal range and talent. The producer is adept at treating Zayn’s vocals with an inspired panoply of double-tracking textures that harmonise as well as contrast. There is an often scintillating sense of a sound space enriched by a depth and sense of space created by the use of different levels of reverb. Zayn often uses his voice in a rhythmic way, influenced by rap as well the percussive traits of Asian song, not least the urgent and exciting repetitions of qawwali, the Sufi genre of his idol Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, to whom he dedicates a song.
Pop music today is skilfully put together, and here, on tracks produced by The Monsters and Strangerz (the brothers Stefan and Jordan K. Johnson) production is essential – even though this is a voice-led album. Zayn’s appeal comes from the fact he bares his soul – many of the tracks explore confusion, frustration in matters of love and desire – in the context of sounds whose blurred edges mimic his own emotional discomfort.
This is an album that thrives on enough exploration and variety, for the experience to feel refreshing rather than over-produced. Outstanding tracks, that bear repeated listening, the subtleties of the production revealing themselves gradually, include “5th Element”, with its tantalising references to "devotion"; the sensual “Met Tonight”, with a lilting rhythm that suggests a dance of seduction; the close to anthemic “Take Turns” with its echoes of Asian music as well as contemporary R & B ; the dreamy vehicle for some meandering vocals on "Loving the Way I Do", and the bass-driven “Fatal”, with a darker feel that reflects very well the complexity of Zayn’s maturing psyche.
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