Yes, you read that right. BeFoUr. The odd spelling and strange capitalizations of the song truly do have a deeper meaning, making the third single on this album incredibly unique and creative.

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 third blog, I will be reviewing BeFoUr.

BeFoUr was written immediately after ZAYN left One Direction, which can be inferenced from the lyrics and confirmed by ZAYN himself. The song begins with the post-chorus:

“I’ve done this before

Not like this.”

Here, ZAYN introduces himself by saying he’s already done all of this– the fame, the tours, etc. But now, everything is different, since he is a solo act. In the pre-chorus, ZAYN further discusses his emotions on this:

“Numb on a roof, set it on fire

Just to give me proof, I’m living on a wire.”

ZAYN shares with the listener how he felt while being with One Direction– numb and paralyzed, stuck. Now on his own, ZAYN has to lead his own path like a tightrope. He is unsure whether his solo act will be as successful and comfortable as was his position in the number one boy band in the world, but he is willing to take the risk.

In this song, ZAYN also addresses the haters which had accumulated after his departure from the band, along with his past management.

“So say what you want to say, what you want

Shame is you won’t say that to my face.”

“No strings for you to pull on”

“Can’t tune my chords into your songs, no.”

ZAYN does not care for those who have a say with him leaving the band, since these people will never say it to his face. It is possible that ZAYN may also be throwing shade to his past band members, who may have incited drama that led to ZAYN leaving the band. Furthermore, ZAYN implies that he is now free from people controlling him. Perhaps he is implying that his actions were always controlled when he was in the band, like a puppet. Now that he is his own act, he no longer has someone controlling him, allowing him to pursue his own dreams. He can make his own music, and as this album shows, his style is not the pop-music that One Direction was creating. Instead, ZAYN prefers an R&B genre, which has shown to be successful for him.

The music of this song is slightly different than that of PILLOWTALK and LIKE I WOULD. Instead of a dance beat, this song has more of a melodramatic mood, which is furthered through the lyrics and the message that the song is conveying. Even with this, the melody is still catchy and can easily be stuck in one’s head.

The title of the song is also very important to note. ZAYN’s last album during his time in One Direction was titled “Four”, and he had four other bandmates. Whether done on purpose or not, the pun is quite interesting to note and truly encapsulates the meaning of the song.