Score: 3.5/5
Directioners and non-Directioners rejoice, we have our first solo album from a former One Direction member — and it’s not bad.
On March 25, 2015, Zayn Malik left the globally successful boyband One Direction. One year later, he dropped “Mind of Mine,” his first solo album. It mostly delivers on its pseudo-R&B promise that fans have grown accustomed to thanks to the album’s earlier released singles “PILLOWTALK” and “LIKE I WOULD.”
Though it mostly delivers, “Mind of Mine” is kind of all over the place. While it produces some truly great tracks, like “wRoNg” featuring Kehlani, which sounds like it could be a cut off of her own album, and “TiO,” Malik’s foray into sexy music that’s actually sexy, it also produces some lackluster numbers like the dull, monotonous “iT’s YoU.”
Kehlani’s addition was a wise decision, and she and Malik’s vocals blend seamlessly. “wRoNg” is definitely repeat worthy, and a few other album cuts, “sHe,” “SHE DON’T LOVE ME” and “dRuNk” are as well.
There is one particularly intimate moment on the album with “INTERMISSION: fLoWer,” a short song Malik sings completely in Urdu, his father’s native language, in honor of him. It’s a beautiful, refreshing track, and a small but important look into Malik’s life and culture.
Of course, this kind of rollercoaster variation in the album’s quality was to be expected with 18 songs on the deluxe edition. Plenty of the tracks blend together, and none, other than the ones named here, really stand out.
Despite his trying to branch out from One Direction’s image and make music his way, there are still some traces of the boyband’s sound. “Mind of Mine” doesn’t totally eviscerate those manufactured elements, but it does enough for Malik to distance himself from them and for his first solo album, it appears to be a successful strategy. Hopefully on future albums he doesn’t name his tracks as if he were a middle schooler on AIM in 2002.
Even with its unemotive lyric delivery, fake-deepness and stagnation in certain areas, “Mind of Mine” is still incredibly listenable, a bit like Frank Ocean and The Weeknd-lite.
Let’s be clear on something, this isn’t Justin Timberlake’s “Justified,”[“Justified,”] nor is it Beyoncé’s “Dangerously in Love.” Those albums had classic pop-R&B hits and further cemented the two now-solo stars’ places in music history, establishing that they wouldn’t fade into obscurity like many members of the boy and girl bands that came before them.
“Mind of Mine” can’t compare to that, but the thing about Malik is he doesn’t really want to compare to that. He’s said time and time again that he wants to make music for himself, music that he thinks is cool, and that’s admirable.
It’s undeniable that Malik has a terrific voice, and though that voice is sometimes underutilized here, “Mind of Mine” is still worth a listen.