Zayn
Mind Of Mine (Sony Music)
Breakdown: He is the first One Direction member to go solo and around a year after he announced that he is leaving the group, Zayn dropped his debut studio album ‘Mind of Mine’. The album was preceded by the smash hit single ‘Pillowtalk’ and the newly announced ‘Like I Would’.
How Many Good Tracks: 13 of the 20.
What I Liked: This is Zayn as we’ve never seen or heard before. The album is a complete 180. This is a fresh start and the listener feels just as emancipated as he does. In fact, Zayn’s journey is almost identical to that of Justin Timberlake’s who also went a more R&B route after splitting with N*Sync. The lyrical content is a lot more mature than the music he released with One direction and because of this, there is a lot more emotion to his songs. These songs also show just how much the group held him back. He shines brighter than ever, vocally, and his writing is more intricate than we’ve seen before. Zayn has the perfect balance of hit singles and more emotional tracks that may not be written for radio. This is the shocking but precise debut I was waiting for from Zayn. South African fans should also head out to music stores to buy this album because the South African physical edition includes two bonus tracks.
What I Didn’t Like: It’s important to remember that this isn’t a One Direction album. In fact, the sound is so detached from that of the group that there is no doubt that not all Zayn’s fans will enjoy his new sound. Perhaps Zayn should have eased his audience into his new music a bit better. The hype before Zayn dropped the album was real and although the album starts off on a very high note, it falls flat towards the middle with too many fillers. There are 20 songs on this album and perhaps choosing 14 would have made this a stronger debut.
Best Track: Befour
Rating: 3.5/5
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