Exactly one year after leaving One Direction, Zayn Malik (now artistically known as ZAYN) had the world (and 12-year-old me) in a chokehold with the release of his sexually explicit song and top hit, PILLOWTALK.
As an adamant ZAYN ‘stan’, I have followed the singer’s career from his X Factor days to his solo career by religiously streaming his music and consistently having him as my #1 artist on my Spotify Wrapped year after year. Because of my passionate dedication to him, my passion blog will be a review of some of my favorite songs from ZAYN’s debut album, Mind of Mine. In my first blog, I will be reviewing the lead single of the album, PILLOWTALK.
PILLOWTALK was a direct response to ZAYN’s departure from One Direction. ZAYN had mentioned that he left the band due to him being restricted in his creativity, and PILLOWTALK truly showed his “creative” roots.
The song, as could be inferred by the name, is about sex– specifically about the spirituality and physical elements of the act. ZAYN uses numerous juxtapositions throughout his piece to display just how complex sex is:
“We’ll go slow and high tempo. Light and dark.”
“My enemy, my ally. Prisoners, then we’re free, it’s a thin line.”
“I’m seeing the pain, seeing the pleasure.”
“A place that is so pure, so dirty and raw.”
“It’s our paradise and it’s our war zone.”
The lyrics of the song continuously follow this pattern of contrast, which is a very unique way to capture such passion. The direct comparison of varying words gives us insight into ZAYN’s mind as he weaves through the emotions he feels during intimacy. He further explains why sex is so intimate to him:
“In a place that feels the tears, a place you lose your fears.”
Overall, Zayn shows his talent for songwriting by cleverly writing a song about sex. Even though writing songs about sex is quite overdone and clichéd, especially in the current music industry, ZAYN proves with PILLOWTALK that songs about sex can still be done well.
The background music is also to highlight. Instead of the generic “boy-band” beat, the instrumentals sound quite futuristic, with electronic elements supporting ZAYN’s voice. This “futuristic” type of music seems to follow out throughout the Mind of Mine album as a common theme, which I will touch on as I continue to analyze his songs on this album. It additionally pushes the idea of how ZAYN is moving on from his past days with One Direction, and that he is doing his own projects from now on.
All in all, PILLOWTALK allowed ZAYN to enter the R&B genre with a bang. Upon the release of the single, ZAYN became the first British male artist to debut at #1 on both US and UK charts, a feat that even One Direction was unable to achieve. PILLOWTALK not only objectively symbolizes ZAYN’s transition from a boy-band member to a solo act, but it also displays his creativity with his lyrics and introduces his new style of music.