InstagramBehold! A year after Zayn Malik walked away from One Direction, his first solo album Mind of Mine has officially debuted—and he's certainly giving us more than one piece of his mind.
A lot has happened in the 23-year-old's life since he left the band that made him an international star in March 2015. Formerly engaged to singer Perrie Edwards in 2013, the pair called off their engagement two years later. Three short months after, the sparks began to fly between him and supermodel Gigi Hadid.
Today, the fashion queen and music's bonafide bad boy are an official romantic item, Malik having commemorated their burgeoning relationship by featuring her in his first music video for "PILLOWTALK."
With plenty of personal material to pull from, the British native has poured his heart out onto the sound waves of this first solo venture, clutching to feelings of desire, regret, loneliness and confusion to fuel the 18 tracks.
Between allusions to cheating and Malik's preferences in between the sheets, there is plenty to unpack when it comes to the crooner's very personal lyrics. Without further adieu, here are the most revealing lines from Mind of Mine and what we can learn from them:
"So say what you wanna say, what you want/ Shame is you won't say that to my face."
If there was ever a time to respond to the One Direction backlash, it seems Malik decided this song was the place to do it. From the track title "BeFoUr"—a play on his last album with the band Four—to the lyrics, it seems the singer is issuing some shade to his former bandmates for not airing their grievances to his face.
"Pillow talk/ My enemy, my ally/ Prisoners/ Then we're free, it's a thriller."
Malik's message couldn't be more clear than the title of this song—"PILLOWTALK." It seems he finds his emotional release in between the sheets.
"She don't, she don't, she don't...give a f--k about what I need and I can't tell you why because my brain can't equate it."
In "iT's YoU," it seems a sad Malik is feeling all kinds of rejected—perhaps a nod to why things between him and Edwards went sour?
"She wants somebody to love/ To hold her/ She wants your body to love."
In a song about "sHe," the singer certainly knows a whole lot about the special woman he's singing about.
"I lose control, when I'm with you/ I hope I haven't said too much/ Guess I always push my luck when I'm with you."
It seems even a stud like Malik has his doubts around the ladies when he's "dRuNk."
"Heard about all the things you've done/ And all the walls that you've been in/ Heard about all the love you lost/ It was over before it began."
For this emotionally charged line, Malik is looking in the "rEaR vIeW" mirror of his former relationship. Perhaps he and Perrie were having trouble in paradise long before the public even had an inkling.
"You're looking in the wrong place for my love/ Don't think because you're with me this is real."
On the topic of relationships, Malik doesn't want any woman he's bedded to get the wrong idea.
"She is the life of the party/ The stick, that knife in my body/ It's something that she always wanted/ For good girls/You're doing a good job."
The singer targets a "good girl" as the subject of his song "BoRdErZ." Since Hadid and Edwards both fit the description, the identity of this particular woman remains a mystery.
"I found my life in between shots and getting high/ The cage I was in fell away when she asked me to dance again."
Judging by this line, Malik may have been rescued from his reckless behavior by a new lady in his life. Gigi Hadid anyone?
"He won't touch you like I do/ He won't love you like I would/ He don't know your body/ He don't do you right/ He won't love you like I would."
Caught in a mystery love triangle, Malik is singing his peace.
"I think I know she don't love me/ That's why I f--k around."
This is as self-explanatory as it gets.