After Zayn Malik left One Direction to strike out on his own, he didn't rush out a record to take advantage of his fame; he took his time getting his sound together.
His first solo record, Mind of Mine, was carefully crafted over a long period with the invaluable help of Frank Ocean collaborator Malay and goes for a much more adult, modern R&B feel than anything he'd done with One D.
Most of the album revolves around sex, drugs, and sex while doing drugs -- pretty typical pursuits for a wealthy guy in his early twenties, especially one feeling his freedom for the first time.
The sound of the album is rich and layered with synths, rubbery basslines, and occasional electric guitars, not too far from the sound of Miguel or the Weeknd.
Like them, he digs deeply into slow, sensual ballads and basically buries himself there like it was a big, fluffy blanket perfect for a midnight rendezvous.
Songs like "dRuNk" and "SHe" hit the sweet spot between romantic and debauched; others like "PILLOWTALK" tip toward the latter.
While most of the album sticks close to lights-low, make-out territory, there are a few outliers, like the tender piano ballad "fOol fOr YoU," which comes closest to the wholesome boy band sound he was so desperate to break free of.
It's a pretty good version of that sound, though.
A couple tracks break free of the ballad haze and bump the energy level up a little: "BeFoUr" is a nice midtempo disco-influenced track that sounds like something Justin Timberlake might have done at one point; "lUcOzAdE" is a gently bouncing track with an on-point synth game.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | iT's YoUJames Ho, Harold Lilly, Zayn Malik | ZAYN | Play | 03:50 | 8 MB | 19 MB |
| 2 | BeFoUrJames Ho, Harold Lilly, Zayn Malik, Terrence Smith | ZAYN | Play | 03:28 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 3 | Like I Would | Zayn | Play | 03:12 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 10 mins | 24 MB | |||||
| 10 mins | 64 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jay Abdul | Assistant |
| 2 | Henrique Andrade | Engineer |
| 3 | Ray Angry | Instrumentation |
| 4 | Chris Berdine | Art Direction, Design |
| 5 | Sarah Button | Violin |
| 6 | Al Carty | Guitar (Bass) |
| 7 | Katherine Chibah | Viola |
| 8 | Reiad Chibah | Violin |
| 9 | Herbie Crichlow | Composer |
| 10 | Louise Dearsley | Cello |
| 11 | Peter Edge | A&R |
| 12 | Dave Eggar | Cello, Orchestration, String Arrangements |
| 13 | James Emerson | Composer, Engineer, Guitar, Keyboards, Programming |
| 14 | Robin Florent | Assistant |
| 15 | Chris Galland | Assistant |
| 16 | Joe Garrett | Guitar |
| 17 | Serban Ghenea | Mixing |
| 18 | Jason Goldstein | Engineer |
| 19 | Rachel Golub | Violin |
| 20 | James Griffin | Composer, Keyboards, Programming |
| 21 | John Hanes | Mixing Engineer |
| 22 | Anthony Hannides | Composer, Vocals (Background) |
| 23 | Michael Hannides | Bass, Composer, Drums, Piano, Vocals (Background) |
| 24 | James Ho | Composer |
| 25 | Rob Katz | Assistant |
| 26 | Kehlani | Featured Artist |
| 27 | Sean Kellett | Engineer |
| 28 | Anthony Kilhoffer | Mixing |
| 29 | Katie Kresek | Violin |
| 30 | Dave Kutch | Mastering |
| 31 | Alex Layne | Assistant |
| 32 | Levi Lennox | Composer, Piano, Producer |
| 33 | Harold Lilly | Composer, Vocals (Background) |
| 34 | Brian London | Piano |
| 35 | Makeyouknowlove | Producer, Vocals |
| 36 | Malay | Bass, Engineer, Guitar, Keyboards, Producer, Programming, Triangle |
| 37 | Zayn Malik | Composer, Executive Producer |
| 38 | Steve Mandel | Engineer |
| 39 | Robert Marcus | Assistant |
| 40 | Manny Marroquin | Assistant, Mixing |
| 41 | Zeke Mishanec | Engineer |
| 42 | Miller Mobley | Photography |
| 43 | Keith Naftaly | A&R |
| 44 | Liam Nolan | Engineer |
| 45 | Paul Norris | Engineer |
| 46 | Chuck Palmer | Conductor, Orchestration, String Arrangements |
| 47 | Kehlani Parrish | Composer, Featured Artist |
| 48 | David Phelan | Engineer |
| 49 | Kevin Rains | Composer, Keyboards, Programming |
| 50 | Kyle Resto | Assistant |
| 51 | Kyle Ross | Assistant |
| 52 | Alan Sampson | Bass, Composer, Drums, Instrumentation, Piano, Producer |
| 53 | Ike Schultz | Assistant |
| 54 | Terrence Smith | Composer |
| 55 | Frank Tatick | Assistant |
| 56 | Salvador Waviest | Composer, Guitar, Keyboards, Programming |
| 57 | Chase Wells | Composer, Guitar, Keyboards, Programming |
| 58 | Steve Wright | String Arrangements |
| 59 | Daniel Zaidenstadt | Engineer |
| 60 | ZAYN | Primary Artist |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |