This week’s Album of the Week—after it stormed to victory with an overwhelming majority of votes in our poll—is the second solo album from former One Direction member Zayn. Here’s the review.
Zayn Malik is no stranger to the highs and lows of fame, having first catapulted to stardom as one-fifth of the carefully constructed boyband One Direction. The group travelled the world and broke records, earning a great deal of money and fame in the process; however, with the pressure taking a toll on Malik’s mental health, he decided to part ways with the group. “We went from theatres, to arenas, to stadiums. There was never any sort of bridge between. Just boom, boom, boom,” Malik says, “I guess that kind of progression to any mind — but especially when you’re 17, 18 — it kind of affects you a little bit”. After a short break from the limelight, Zayn struck out on his own with a sound much truer to himself and the influences of his upbringing. Taking on the R&B he grew up listening to on his 2016 debut Mind of Mine, it felt to many like we were finally getting to hear the voice behind the quiet Bradford lad that had been hidden by other, more extroverted characters. Two years later, the singer is back with his second full-length project, the astonishingly long, 27-song LP Icarus Falls.
The album seems to follow the same trajectory of highs and lows as Zayn himself. The first half is full of uncomplicated love and affection only to fall, just as Icarus did, into darker depths in the second half of the record. ‘Let Me’, the album’s opener and lead single, is a delightfully happy, dreamy track where Zayn imagines “duvet days and vanilla ice cream (Vanilla ice cream)” to share with his lover. The singer’s falsetto coupled with the acoustic guitar on the chorus mirror the tone of his devotional lyrics and blends nicely with the snare-driven R&B rhythms of the chorus.
This opening track sets the tone for the first half of the album, with a slew of love songs to follow. ‘Natural’ kicks off the more sultry, slow-burn R&B that dominates much of the record, a sound that becomes somewhat repetitive at times. ‘Flight of the Stars’ shows off Zayn’s lower vocal range but fails to pick up in tempo at any point, serving little more than a chilled atmosphere to be left in the background. Others linger in the mind a little longer — ‘Back to Life’ pays homage to his roots with the melodic intro, ‘Talk To Me’ breaks the R&B flow with chilled out dancehall vibes, and ‘There You Are’ builds into an epic anthem of love.
‘Icarus Interlude’ marks the transition into the second half of the record, and the change in tone from one of happiness and love to one that reflects a darker and more troubled state of mind. ‘Good Guy’ tells a very different story from the album’s opening track where he promises to be faithful, instead warning his lover that he’s “not a good guy”. The foreboding overtone created by the sample of ‘Bang Bang (He Shot Me Down)’ contrasts beautifully with the album’s first act where there seems to be little trouble in paradise.
Perhaps the troubled mindset lends itself to a more varied style of music in the second half of the album — ‘Sour Diesel’ matches a killer baseline with punchy funk-pop guitar, whilst ‘No Candle No Light’ featuring rapper Nicki Minaj strays into EDM with a tropical dance beat. Bringing the album to a close is ‘Too Much’, with both synths and drum beat nodding to the work of featured artist and legendary hip-hop producer Timbaland. The song combines all the best parts of the album, creating an R&B-infused bop that boasts Zayn’s haunting falsetto.
Deciding to listen to an album nearly one and a half hours in length feels like undertaking a task of epic proportions, almost as grand as the Greek myth from which it takes its name. Whilst the first half masters — and at times overdoes — the R&B genre, the second half takes on a wider variety of styles. Twenty-seven songs is arguably excessive for one album, but that seems to be the point, Zayn wanted excess; after all, he admits, “I guess I want too much”. Although Icarus was doomed to fall, Zayn’s latest album reflects an artist comfortably holding on to the success he enjoyed once before, and has shown that he will likely continue to fly.
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