ZAYN

When Zayn Malik left One Direction in 2015, he didn’t really have a plan. Born Zain Malik in 1993 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, he joked at the time that he’d only gone through with The X Factor—and the subsequent rise of the world’s biggest boy band—because it beat taking exams. And while 1D were close mates, ZAYN still felt like the creative odd man out, a lifelong hip-hop and R&B fan trying to find his voice in the group’s bright, pop-rock matrix. But after going solo, he immediately began taking chances with woozy, alt-leaning R&B like 2016’s “iT’s YoU”, the decidedly adult themes of the same year’s “sHe” and “PILLOWTALK” and the club sounds of 2018’s “No Candle No Light”. Some teen stars never outgrow the past. With ZAYN, you sense that the future has been on his mind for a while—it just took him a minute to get around to it. And years after refusing to dance in 1D, the British Pakistani singer doubled down on artistic authenticity by avoiding any unnecessary adornment on his fourth solo album, 2024’s ROOM UNDER THE STAIRS. “I wanted to really step into my voice, my ability, my writing,” he told Apple Music. “One of the main things I wanted was for it to remain as raw and as untouched as possible, in terms of the effects and all the glitz and glamour that you usually get with high-production stuff.” Now a father, he proves ready to look behind with him with fresh eyes—“Say goodbye to the past/Leave it all with a laugh,” he sings on “Alienated”—and lend his delicate voice to folky reflection on “Stardust”, sounding a world away from the glossy ensemble that gave him his start.