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Zayn Malik, Zayn Mind of Mine: 'Sublime R&B beats from the Bradford Bad Boy', album review

Download: It’s You; Rear View; Borders; Blue

Andy Gill
Friday 25 March 2016 14:37 GMT
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For reasons way beyond his control, the world needs Zayn Malik more than ever now, given the ghastly events of earlier this week.

Though how much counterbalance, in terms of the wider public image of Islamic culture, the “World’s Sexiest Asian Man” (according to Eastern Eye) can offer to such brutal, random killing remains debatable.

But given Malik’s position as possibly the world’s most popular Muslim – certainly the only one whose work has routinely debuted atop the charts of over 30 countries – there’s suddenly much more riding on his solo debut album than there was a week ago.

It’s not, to be honest, a burden that Mind of Mine shoulders easily but there’s enough natural charm and romantic appeal about it to ease it into one’s affections.

And while few of Zayn’s middle-American fans will be familiar with the Qawwali-style vocal elisions of “Intermission: Flower”, there’s always a chance that the brief track’s beauty will open their hearts to the broader aesthetic possibilities of cultures outside their usual experience.

It has to be admitted, too, that his vocals are by far the album’s most potent aspect, bringing grace and wonder even to the more routine material, and hoisting the better songs to classic status – most spectacularly when the drawn-out, melismatic title hook of “It’s You” soars over the organ drone and piano.

It’s one of the sublime moments that affirms Zayn’s decision to leave the globe-girdling boy-band of which he was arguably the most gifted member.

The material sticks closely to the standard R&B playbook, with dreamy romance shading into more erotic territory, but as befits the one-time Bradford Bad Boy, tracks like “Drunk” and “Lucozade” hint at a more lairy lifestyle beyond the bedroom, with Zayn confiding in the latter that he’s been “smokin’ too much, it’s startin’ to fog my clarity”.

It makes him sound not that unlike the rest of us, which may be just what the world needs to hear right now.

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