#z2's promo

[1dreality]

Zayn Malik was never the celebrity you thought he was. If it wasn’t already obvious from his detached, often melancholic interviews in the wake of his 2015 departure from One Direction, it will be from the title of his second solo album. The very elongated 27-track Icarus Falls is comprised of more of the sparse R&B that Malik has perfected since his first release Mind of Mine in 2016, but like its titular myth is also indebted to themes of incredible ascent and crushing decline.

A decline not of Malik’s career, it should be said, but rather of his own mental health, the album serving as both an intimate meditation on Malik’s life so far and a dire warning about the trauma of instant fame. It all leads to one obvious question: Is Zayn OK?

In an age of millennial openness and Instagram confessionals, Malik remains something of an outlier: an enormously famous and highly visible celebrity, but one whose ambiguity allows us to project much onto him. In our collective consciousness, he has been the 1D-fleeing villain, smoking cigarettes, being mean to his bandmates on Twitter and looking miserable as well as the “soft boy” pin-up, a vulnerable figure in desperate need of a hug.

Much of that ambiguity is intentional. Along with declining to tour Mind of Mine, Malik is often press-shy, choosing not to take part in TV sit-downs or play the social media game in an era in which somebody like Ariana Grande spends much of the waking day interacting with her fans on Twitter and Instagram.

And while Malik has been open about some of his past struggles, including his battle with an eating disorder at the height of his One Direction fame and consistent difficulties with anxiety, they’re often revelations that feel accidental in nature. We learn of them during an unexpected moment of truth-telling between him and a journalist, the subject quickly changed soon after, or through lyrics that are just descriptive enough to imply deep truths. Even talking about his anxiety in an essay for Time Magazine felt like a necessary course-correction after a string of cancelled gigs led to unflattering rumours about his health in the press.

Whether Malik’s public persona is intended as a protective mask or not, it is still difficult, particularly in the wake of Icarus Falls, not to feel something for him. After all, his jump from a working-class kid to an international superstar worth a reported $50 million, practically overnight, is the sort of trajectory most of us would struggle with at the age of 40, let alone at 17 when Malik auditioned for The X Factor.

Icarus Falls doesn’t cover any new sonic ground for Malik as an artist. It sees him return to the same well of threadbare, silky R&B that helped Mind of Mine easily trounce his fellow One Direction bandmates in the “best first solo record” stakes. But it does whirr with a noticeable sadness, Malik repeatedly mourns the peace of his pre-X Factor past and beats himself up for mistakes he feels that he’s made since. And when he speaks of emotional pain, it often sounds not like something confined to history, but rather something he’s dealing with every day.

“I’d rather be anywhere but here,” he sings on Good Years. “I close my eyes and see a crowd of a thousand tears / I pray to God I didn’t waste all my good years.” On Insomnia: “I’ve been roaming and strolling all in the streets / Burning my eyes red, not slept for weeks.” On Back to Life: “I been flying so long / Can’t remember what it was like to be sober.” On Satisfaction: “Nobody said this would be easy / Nobody gave me a rule book to follow.”

Even typical love songs are fatalistic in nature, talk of Armageddon running through both Flight of the Stars (“I will follow / Hold you close standing on the edge of no tomorrow”) and Tonight (“Love me like tomorrow’s never gonna come”), while much of the album nods to an unnamed great love in Malik’s life that he needs to overcome incredible odds to be with – nothing new for love songs, but given a greater weight when paired with his statements over the years. Because if we know anything about Zayn Malik, it’s that he often can’t stand being Zayn Malik.

Through much of the little press he has done, Malik has expressed unease with most of the trappings of fame, particularly the assumptions that he ought to be personable and friendly with industry figures or musical collaborators. And when it comes to One Direction, he still appears burnt by the experience. While he told Vogue in November that he has recently been able to see his time with the band as “an amazing experience,” despite the “bulls---” of what he refers to as “the machine,” he also told GQ in June that he didn’t make any actual friends during the peak of his fame: “I definitely have issues trusting people.”

In the numerous articles that pop up every winter recalling how good The X Factor used to be, clips are embedded that showcase many of its most memorable contestants, and every year it becomes that bit more shocking how much One Direction looked like children during their time on the show. The scrawny limbs, those Justin Bieber haircuts, the awkward school-talent-show bopping and shuffling. It somehow worked, enough at least to turn them into a tween phenomenon, but in hindsight it’s indefensible that they were pushed as significantly as they were.

There was always something deer-in-the-headlights about the band in its early days, a sense that at least a few of them had been pulled along for the ride as opposed to having a firm grip on the steering wheel. The hunger so visible in pop bands of similar notoriety, whether manufactured or not, wasn’t always visible – and while all of them have transitioned into stable adults who are, for the most part, comfortable in the spotlight, their jarringly different responses to fame remain clear.

It’s important to remember, for context’s sake, that Malik was always a reluctant star. Only attending his original X Factor audition after being guilted by his mother into waking up early and making the journey there, he was, in his own words to The Fader, “a lazy teen”. And even during the audition stages, he expressed reluctance to properly join in, walking off stage during a choreography rehearsal and having to be coaxed to go back. At the time, Malik’s reaction registered as a petulant strop, but now feels oddly prescient.

Of Malik’s One Direction bandmates, Harry Styles was always the most naturally inclined to superstardom – such an affable schmoozer and networker that it was quickly no longer surprising to see images of him palling around with Mick Jagger or Stevie Nicks. Liam Payne always bore the personality of someone very eager to be seen, lack of self-awareness very much included, while the perpetually chipper Niall Horan has always simply appeared very, very happy to be there. But both Malik and Louis Tomlinson have often visibly struggled, uninspired by the more performative and fraudulent elements of celebrity, or the levels of attention handed to them by Simon Cowell and co.

“What I really can’t ever get used to, or really enjoy, are these super geared-up celebrity parties,” Tomlinson told Noisey last year. “No one actually cares. You see people who are beyond self-absorbed, and that’s why it can be a dangerous place.”

Malik has echoed similar sentiments. “I don’t work well in group situations, with loads of people staring at me,” he told GQ. “And when you say ‘star’… everyone wants you to be this kind of character that owns a room or is overly arrogant or confident. I’m not that guy, so I don’t want to be a star.”

What’s odd is that, for all his claims, Malik does bear all the superficial trappings of modern stardom. He’s a fashion darling but is permanently magnetised to the covers of cool indie magazines. Furthermore, his on-again/off-again relationship with supermodel Gigi Hadid has, since 2015, become a Generation Z equivalent of Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder in its aesthetic-heavy, era-defining popularity.

But Malik is also simultaneously detached. The GQ profile, his most extensive recent interview, bears all the hallmarks of a journalist struggling to fulfil a word count because of an uncommunicative subject, writer Carrie Battan even expresses Malik’s tendency to reply to her questions in “friendly but anodyne one-liners.” Like the very best of pop idols, from Britney to Beyoncé, Malik is so compelling principally because he’s so hard to read. But this can also be a poisoned chalice: every expression of doubt or self-pity determined to be a cry for help, every revelation shaping an image that may or may not be real.

It means that listening to Icarus Falls isn’t an entirely joyous experience, Malik’s lyrics painting a picture of a young man still working through the discomfort of his sudden fame and the trauma of a moment in the spotlight marred by illness and fractured relationships, many of its scars still visible today. But it’s also a record that you can’t help but admire as a result, especially if it serves as a form of catharsis for him.

In the decade since Britney Spears was forcibly taken to the hospital surrounded by hundreds of paparazzi photographers, our collective relationship with the idea of fame has greatly altered, particularly for a generation who watched Amy Winehouse essentially die before their eyes. The one beneath them are currently coming to terms with a raft of recent pop star crises, from Demi Lovato’s overdose to the deaths of artists like Mac Miller and Lil Peep.

For all the obvious charms in Malik’s life, from his incredible fortune to a kind of artistic freedom that he never had in One Direction, you’d have to be particularly cold not to feel empathy for the sheer strangeness of his adult existence; a world of rampant, maddening attention that has historically led even the strongest of stars into tragedy.

The Zayn Malik of today is a little bruised, a little listless, his magazine profiles never complete without references to the cloud of marijuana smoke that lingers around him, or his need to lock himself away from the world. It doesn’t sound like the most ideal of outcomes for a man who calls himself a pop idol Icarus and sings with whispery detachment that he has “[flown] too close to the sun.” But we can only hope that it at least serves as a parachute.

[unusual-ly]

Ly Analyses (rants about) The Written Zombie Language In ZOMBIES 1 And 2

I have normal priorities too I swear Happy Bonzo Day

(Text only version below the cut at the end)

References from Mark Hofeling’s website here

Text version below

The design of the original Zombese alphabet for ZOMBIES 1 is based on the creases and folds of the brain, which makes sense as something the first zombies would recognise and associate themselves with when unstable or semi-stable. Plus, it’s a cool aesthetic choice and far more creative than if it resembled the Roman alphabet that we use.

-

But in ZOMBIES 2, Zombese went from its own 18-character alphabet to a 26-character cipher code matched up to the 26 letters of the Roman alphabet. Languages with their own writing systems other than the Roman alphabet don’t just consist of direct matches to every Roman letter, but of phonemes, some of which match a single Roman letter while some take multiple Roman letters together to make their sound e.g. th, sh, tsu, yae etc. At least the original pronunciation guide used zombie-sounding phonemes, even if they didn’t match what was spoken onscreen...  IT DOESN’T EVEN MAKE SENSE TO HAVE THE ZOMBIE WORDS DIRECTLY DECODE TO ENGLISH, SHOULDN’T THEY DECODE TO ZOMBIE-TONGUE?!

-

The original Z1 guide could theoretically be put together to make a word or phrase in Zombie, e.g. characters are read as sounds like rrrgg, gnnn, eaah etc. BUT trying to make the words given as examples in the Z1 guide just doesn’t sound like the Zombie-tongue spoken in the movies, so these pronunciations don’t actually work.

-

Using the new Z2 guide applied to Zombie-tongue seen in Z1 does not translate to anything in English, meaning there’s no consistency between Z1 and Z2.

-

In comparing the Zombese in Z1 to Z2 further - The only translated Zombese we see in Z1 is “The End”, which contradicts Z2’s guide. We see a lot of Zombese written joined up like the graffiti in the power plant, or a promo image of Bonzo with a quote written in Zombie, and written in any direction, as on clothing. But in Z2, the Zombese is always separated. Plus a Zombese “I” is randomly included in the sign that reads “Z-nema” instead of a dash, between the “Z” and “N”? And judging from the sign seen in a recent Z3 behind the scenes photo, Z3 will be the same.

-

CONCLUSION:

CANON ZOMBESE IS DUMB AND I’M GONNA MAKE MY OWN PRONUNCIATION GUIDE USING THE PHONETIC ALPHABET CUZ I’M A NERD WITH NOTHING BETTER TO DO

[magzoso-tech]

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/these-noise-cancelling-wireless-headphones-can-be-perfect-for-any-budget/

These Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones Can be Perfect for Any Budget

Get a great pair of headphones without setting your wallet on fire.

December 16, 2019 2 min read

Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

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[almondscroissant]

I need you to know that I appreciate the last question that you answered. I'm a Ziam shipper but sometimes I'm losing my hopes and I have doubts about Zayn and Liam as a 'couple'. 😕😔 I'm a little worried about Zayn's stay in NY throughout this months (since April is in NY and he's leaving or arriving at gi**'s apartment), I know it's for promo, but I would like that Zayn free.I cross my fingers and I hope one of the two fake relationships ends sooner. [1]

Keep on it with your blog, ziam needs fans like you. 😍💛 ❤️ (please excuse me for this terrible English 😣) [2]

Firstly, anon, your English is perfect!!! (And seriously, please don’t ever feel like you need to excuse it!)

Secondly:

I’m so very glad that ask helped! I think it’s totally natural to question things. We get a lot thrown at us, so much of it working the exact opposite of what we believe, and it can all weigh you down. But I think sometimes it’s nice to go back to basics, so to speak lol. Just remember what got you here. 😊

And I know what you mean about Zayn being in NYC! Don’t get me wrong, it’s always, always nice to see him, but the constant pap walks seem tiresome for him. So I’m really hoping he’ll be released from his orbit around 10 Bond Street soon. (At least we know he’s there recording z2 and possibly rehearsing for Japan!!!) And it does seem like he’s been in the city for a long stretch of time. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been able to jet off to other places in between. (I honestly feel like they could be anywhere at any time lol.) So hopefully he’s been able to have a few days in the UK or LA or wherever to spend time with loved ones!

Anon, I am with you 100%. Let’s combine the power of our crossed fingers to get all these stunts to end. For them! For us! 😂 

(And I hope this doesn’t sound dramatic, but your second message really touched my heart. Thank you so much for saying that. Zayn and Liam are lucky to have such a thoughtful and kind fan like you. Hang in there!! xxx)

[fashiontrendin-blog]

Zayn and Gigi have made their relationship Instagram official... again

http://fashion-trendin.com/zayn-and-gigi-have-made-their-relationship-instagram-official-again/

Zayn and Gigi have made their relationship Instagram official... again

They’re one of Tinseltown’s most-loved couples but Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid broke our hearts when they broke up in March 2018.

Just a few months later they were spotted snuggling on a sofa, hanging out together and generally resuming couple-based-activities, sparking rumours that their relationship is back on.

Although they’ve remained coy about what they’re up to, we think we’ve finally got the Instagram official confirmation we’ve been waiting for – and everyone knows that’s how couples do things in this day and age.

Gigi took to her Instagram Stories to confirm that they’d been on holiday together, and they look very loved up indeed.

It’s not clear where they’ve been vacay-ing, but it looks LUSH. Aw, we’re glad they could work things out.

Back in July, Gigi stood up against people who labelled their relationship as ‘fake’.

The 23-year old model made an appearance in the comments of an Instagram account that goes by the handle ‘@exposingfakeasszigii’. After the ordeal, naturally, the account went private, but unfortunately for the owner of the account – the internet already had their screenshots.

The account is supposedly dedicated to posting substantiated ‘confessions’ about the couple, and recently uploaded a photo of Gigi and Zayn claiming that everything they do is for ‘promo’, adding: “Fact is that Zayn is not going to follow Gigi or ever going to post her picture on his Instagram again.” (FYI, he unfollowed her during their break earlier this year.)

The post caught Gigi’s eye as she left a comment asking them to stop tagging her in photos every day.

“It’s just negative,” she wrote. “I really have no hard feelings towards you, I just know what a beautiful world there is to go out and live in instead of trying to dissect a relationship between two people that you don’t even know and that you do not see 99% of.”

One particular part of the essay-length clapback that made us chuckle was that she didn’t need Zayn to follow her because he “has her eyes on his chest” (not an exaggeration, this is an actual tattoo he has).

“You guys can call it promo but I just post about my boyfriend like anyone else, whether I support Z or he supports me is out of love and excitement for one another. There’s nothing to figure out all the time… give it a break” she then went on to add.

Later on, Gigi then responded to another comment which suggested she should have DM’d the account, rather than blast them in the comments. Ok hold on a second – someone just called her out for standing up for herself against a troll that targeted her relationship? We seriously feel for Gigi right now.

we don’t usually comment on Z’s personal life but @GiGiHadid ‘s right in saying that, “WE’RE ALL ON THE SAME TEAM.” nobody can argue or deny that. we’re ready for the Z2 era, give us your best king @zaynmalik pic.twitter.com/RJitLLwK36

— Z2 Promo Team (@ZquadPromo) July 3, 2018

“I’m sorry if it came off immature, I’m just trying to open a dialogue so people understand that their words are hurtful and not just an ‘anonymous confession,'” the model explained.

While Gigi’s being pretty open about her thoughts, you aren’t going to get that kind of clarification from Zayn. In June 2018, he insisted on ‘not labelling’ their relationship as they’re both ‘adults’. Fair.

In an interview with GQ, he explained:

“We’re adults. We don’t need to put a label on it, make it something for people’s expectations.”

He also divulged how Gigi helped him get past his teenage angst, saying, “I had a very negative outlook on things. That might have been adolescence or testosterone or whatever the f*ck was running through my body at the time. She’s helped me to look at things from a positive angle.”

During the interview, Zayn further revealed that he’s bought a farm in Pennsylvania, not far from where Yolanda Hadid lives. He and Gigi have also purchased a horse together, named Cool, and he now spends his time growing cucumbers, cherries and tomatoes. Casual.

Whatever is going on between them, they seem happy, and that’s totally cool by us.

Taking to Twitter at the time of their breakup, the former One Direction star confirmed that he and his supermodel girlfriend had broken up after two years together.

Rumours started to swirl that the 25-year-old singer and 22-year-old model had gone their separate ways and, just hours later, Zayn posted this on his Twitter account.

His post read: ‘Gigi and I had an incredibly meaningful, loving and fun relationship and I have a huge amount of respect and adoration for Gigi as a woman and a friend. She has such an incredible soul.

‘I’m grateful to all of our fans for respecting this difficult decision and our privacy at this time, we wish this news could have come from us first. We love you all. xZ’

A source told The Sun: ‘They are no longer a couple but they do remain close and are supportive of each other. The reality is that they’ve grown apart, having been together for a long time. They have crazy work schedules that would put pressure on any relationship.’

Zayn and Gigi became official back in January 2016, six months after he and Little Mix star, Perrie Edwards, broke up.

We can’t wait to see where their relationship goes from here.

Let’s look back on the couple’s cutest Instagram selfies ever…

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

[touristguidebuzz]

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Out of Town Blog Fly now with AirAsia – Three flight daily between Manila and Iloilo

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Also Read: Ultimate List of the Best Hotels in Iloilo City

Fly now with AirAsia – Three flight daily between Manila and Iloilo Melo Villareal

[latouristatravel-blog]

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[1dreality]

Zayn’s new album, Icarus Falls, isn’t a commercial hit.

I have to laugh when music sites drop an album review after only a day of listening. To really sink your teeth into new tunes means giving the songs a second to settle. Zayn’s sophomore record, Icarus Falls, needs listeners to do just that.

After my initial play, I gathered that the magnanimous 27-track LP was a cohesive list of bedroom bops. Zayn could stand to trim a couple of the tracks, but imagine how many were left on the cutting room floor. Icarus has a vibe, and it soundtracks the chilly winter months to the perfect degree. It’s a real shame it underperformed.

According to early estimates from Hits Daily Double, Icarus Falls will open up with 15,000 – 20,000 in sales plus streaming. Of that lot, just 3,000 – 5,000 are in pure sales.

Personally, I’m not a fan on sales figures and No. 1s. I don’t find myself in disbelief when an artist breaks a Spotify or YouTube streaming record, because I’m not convinced that artistry has a correlation to sales.

The real injustice here is that more people should hear Icarus Falls. Zayn really just dropped two albums worth of material, but the world is still somewhere streaming “Thank U, Next.” That is a good song, though.

[unusual-ly]

Zombie-tongue Translations - ZOMBIES 2 and promo

As I’ve said before, I’m still going to continue to use Zombie terms I’ve made up in my own fics even if there is a canon term now, but I still enjoyed translating and analysing Z2's Zombie-tongue. I will eventually edit my Zombie-tongue guides to include both my terms and the canon terms and it’s up to you which you’d like to use~

Colour guide: Green = translated Pink = not translated White = partially translated

See below the cut for analysis notes!

>You can find the Z1 translation analysis here<

“Graz!” (or “gras!”) makes the most sense to mean “strong(er)”, given the context. The context is also obvious for “Gruza Zedski! Zedski predski”, “zegrezuwulf”, “zaguratol”, “hagaza” (although I can’t get a direct translation for that) and “guresika?”. “Gruman?” is directly translated by Zed

“Zrugala!” has a few options. He’s pointing out the window of the bus at the first sign, so it’s most likely either “look!”, “over there!” or “a sign!”, or something similar. The rhyming/syllable count technique isn’t helping much here unfortunately

“Zedski gruzal” can very easily be translated with the rhyming technique! “Brutal” makes a lot of sense with the context - it’s the start of a scene where we can assume Eliza and Zed have been telling Bonzo about the Like The Zombies Do incident. He could mean a synonym of “brutal” as well, going by my theory that one Zombie-tongue word could cover multiple English words so that it’s easier to speak

“Naz guz” is irritating me a bit. It sounds like it should mean “not good”, because of the similar sounds, but it doesn’t feel right to me for Zed to respond to “not good” with “ugh, that’s awful”. It seems like it should be something more specific, plus the word “guz” is used again later and I can’t find anyway for “good” to make sense in that scene

We know “gruza” means “vote” from earlier, which is a little bit awkward here but it can work, going by the synonym theory again. It could also mean “choose/decide” and be a prompt for someone to either agree or disagree

“Guz” comes up again when everyone is at the wolf den and they hear noises from the power plant. Here, it seems like it means “guys” because he’s getting everyone’s attention...? Then “zagura” when he points, which sounds like he’s saying “look!/over there!”, which complicates “zrugala” from earlier. Maybe one of them is “look” and the other is “over there”? I’m stumped on this one

The rap is a rap. Just like in his rap in My Year, I think he’s saying a lot that can easily be boiled down to something super simple but he wants to show off cuz he’s Like That(tm) when it comes to rapping. Also thanks to James Godfrey himself for the spelling

Bucky’s little line in I’m Winning is probably not actual Zombie-tongue, but if it is, we get a direct translations. Again, synonym theory, it could be generic compliment. I would like to note the word “dinga” comes up here and in Bonzo’s rap - a real Zombie word, or Bucky copying what was just said?

BONUS!

Remember this little promo video shared by @kokinu09​ before the premiere~? I tried translating it at the time but all I could get was confirmation that “greeska” means “cheerleader” (see Z1 translations) and the names (Zed = Zedski, Addison = Addiska, Bonzka = Bonzo and Breeska = Bree, which was also in Z1). “Zedski” still throws me off and I’m sticking to my “-ka” and “-ska” suffixes. We have Elizaka and Bonzka, so “-ka” is for zombies, and Addiska and Breeska, so “-ska” is for humans. I have no idea what’s up with that “-ski” outlier but eh. Canon is canon. I just ignore it when it doesn’t work for me, I don’t control what any of you do with it

Time to actually attempt to translate!

“Zebala greeska” was said in Z1, after Eliza calls football stupid and Zed sarcastically says “thanks for the pep talk”. "Zebala” greeska” seems to mean something along the lines of “she/he/they/you/I should be a cheerleader”, or that the person is acting like a cheerleader, or it’s just saying they are a cheerleader. Now, Bonzo is saying “Greeska le zebala greeska”. I’ll be honest, I’m not 100% sure I’m hearing that “le” in there but I’ll go with it My guess is this is something about cheerleaders being cheerleaders. And there’s “gruza” - “vote” - yet again before it. At first I had thought it was a greeting to start the promo but now that I have the rest of the Zombie-tongue lines, it’s making sense that it means “vote”, or anything similar; “choose/choice/decide/decision” etc. I’m thinking “ah” means “or”, because he doesn’t put it between “Bonzka” and “Breeska” like “and” would be, but in between the two couples. This is basically “Zeddison or Bronzo”. The only thing I can think of here is that Bonzo is asking the viewers to pick which couple makes better cheerleaders. The one part I can’t figure out an actual translation for is “buskalava”. After that, tho, Bree says “I couldn’t have said it better myself!”, so maybe “buskalava” is saying it’s an obvious choice? Or something about them that makes them better than Zeddison? I don’t know, but I agree with them *^*

Well, that’s everything! If anyone wants to make any input of any kind, then go ahead~!

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[1dreality]

6.4/10

Zayn’s reputation as a skillful interpreter of pop is tested on his second solo album, a tome of love songs with a concept that hinges on excess and its trickery.

Zayn—fka Zayn Malik, fka one-fifth of the British boy-band supernova One Direction—named his second album after the myth of Icarus, the seraphic optimist who flew too close to the sun and snuffed himself out as a result. It’s in keeping with Zayn’s status as a reluctant pop star: He was the first member to depart from his Simon Cowell-sutured group (four months before the other four went on indefinite hiatus), his social-media presence is mostly low-key, and the promotion around his new releases are comparatively low-key affairs. Too much excess chatter, after all, results in the music, the reason Zayn became Zayn in the first place, receding to the background.

Mind of Mine, Zayn’s 2016 solo debut, was steeped in the dry-ice chills of modern R&B, Zayn’s still-lithe tenor guiding the listener through tremulous, sexually charged tracks. Icarus Falls, its followup, treads more of the same ground—a lot more, actually—while also serving up a few surprisingly sublime pop moments.

On first glance, the 27-track length of Icarus Falls indicates a data dump, those streaming-age behemoths made to be played on repeat by stat-happy fans while they sleep. And it’s partly that; Zayn told British Vogue that some of its tracks were rescued from the sessions for Mind of Mine, which resulted in some “60-something” completed songs. But Icarus Falls is actually a double album, cleaved in two by “Icarus Interlude,” which features Zayn hammering home the concept over spindly guitars. “I guess I flew too close to the sun/Myth’ll call me legend, that might be why,” he muses before label-dropping Yves Saint Laurent.

Icarus Falls opens with Zayn in love, or at least something like it: “Sweet baby, our sex has meaning,” he murmurs over the percolating guitars and plush synths of the album’s first track, the bedheaded devotional “Let Me.” (His ability to just barely pull off that bodice-ripper-worthy line is a sign of his skillful interpretative sense.) It’s a gorgeous opening, straddling the space between the breezy acousti-R&B that dominated the late ’00s and the snare-heavy rhythms of modern trap-pop while also flaunting Zayn’s falsetto. It’s followed by a slew of love songs, some of which leap from speakers a bit more readily: The sparse, snap-assisted “Back to Life” turns a lover into a lifesaver; “Stand Still” places Zayn, pleading in chorus with himself, within chilly synths and a rubbery guitar solo; the sumptuous “I Don’t Mind” rides a laconic groove with hope and swagger. Zayn’s belief in the power of love utterly blinds him on that last one—“You can tell me all your lies/I don’t mind,” he declares.

Then come the aforementioned interlude and the back half of the album, the new mood signaled by a sample of the tremolo guitars that open Nancy Sinatra’s torchy version of “Bang Bang.” Zayn’s wail zooms in, and we’re off to the races, plunging into love’s dark side on “Good Guy,” being emotionally withholding on “You Wish You Knew,” and writing a poison-pen letter to an ex on “Entertainer.” The more volatile lyrical content of the back half seems to feed into its more exciting, varied music—“Sour Diesel” reforms the “I Wanna Be Your Dog” bassline into a tether for blissed-out funk-pop, “Scripted” smashes and glues back together the string-laden ballad ideal, and the tense “Fresh Air” pairs fuzzy yet insistent drum-machine hits with a drowsy loop, underscoring the pressure-cooker lyrics that outline a relationship on the rocks. (There’s also “Good Years,” a jaundiced look back at One Direction past that, possibly ironically, echoes the sort of Ryan Tedder-style balladry that might have padded one of the group’s earlier albums.)

Icarus Falls, as a high-concept pop album, is fine. It shows off Zayn’s reluctant charisma and love-song-ready voice amid R&B ideas that are fully immersed in the present, for the most part for the better. True, it’s long, but given that its whole concept hinges on the idea of excess and its trickery, maybe that’s yet another sly wink from one of teen idoldom’s most enigmatic artists.

Back to home

[1dreality]

You know what.. I thought he wasn’t even going to chart on Billboard or if he did like way after the top 100.

Considering the circumstances that surrounded the release of the album, it could have been far worse. So props to him.

Charts at then end of the day, especially Billboard can be gamed now and is more used as a promo tool.

Of course if you compare it to the sales of MOM, commercially IF is a flop and reflects badly on him.

Whatever gain he has made in 2015-2016 in terms of audience, is completely gone/ vanished. Out of sight from the public eye for almost 2.5 years (I mean in terms of promo and performances that have a gp reach) means out of mind for them.

However critically, he has improved.

Anyway I hope 2017-2018 has been a teachable moment for Zayn and that 2019 will fait better for him.

[1dreality]

Rating: 4/5

Zayn is a hard guy to stan.

Sometimes it seems as if the elusive 25-year-old pop star, who shrugged off teen idolatry as a member of One Direction in favour of melancholic global pop, does the bare minimum to maintain a modicum of smooth bops.

The roll-out for his much-anticipated sophomore album, Icarus Falls, was scattershot. He turned down high-profile magazine covers, pushed-back release dates and a haphazardly dropped singles with little promo. Whereas his former One Direction colleagues play the fame game – both Harry Styles and Niall Horan have cemented their status as solo headliners with world tours and talk show appearances in support of their respective debuts – Zayn has long been ambivalent about his heartthrob obligations. He remains the literal embodiment of “gotta Zayn,” an online lingua franca  that found currency following his abrupt departure from One Direction in 2015 in the middle of their world tour.

Zayn’s enigmatic charm – what keeps me coming back for more, even when he frustrates me with his seemingly stoner-gamer work ethic – is how he deconstructs artifices we still uphold in our male pop idols. Those smooth bops, sung to a mostly female fan base, are tailor-made for introverts cognizant of nerdy references to Super Mario Bros and Men In Black, but also question gendered behaviours we lean upon when chasing falling-in-love highs.

His debut record, Mind Of Mine, was an exercise in fuccboi posturing that hopscotched between disparate sounds, but this double album is cohesive. It’s vivid, solitary pop and R&B that arrives at a tentative grasp of serious romance. But loss and grief are still part of the equation. As the poet Jack Gilbert put it in his poem Failing And Falling, “Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.” In other words, we enjoy love’s highs because of the lows.

“Sweet baby, our sex has meaning,” Zayn croons in opener Let Me, a confectionary sweet ballad with buoyant throwback synths, finger snaps and strumming guitar. In the album’s first half, tracks like Back To Life, Imprint and If I Got You are slapping declarative devotionals. There You Are is the rare post-indefinite-hiatus One Direction anthem that would have fit neatly on Four, their final album before Zayn left.

But it’s not all Netflix rom-com vibes. Amidst these odes lurks a possessive and consuming love. On Stand Still, delicate harp runs and eerie snare snaps allude to narcissistic illusions of the “perfect” relationship. “If time stands still / move I will to you,” goes the chorus, attempting to grasp at a moment that’s slipping away. “This was filmed / somehow I see you.”

The album’s latter half leans into heartbreak in all its messy glory. Sampling the reverb-drenched guitar from Nancy Sinatra’s Bang Bang, Good Guy puts the controlling nature of monogamy on blast: “I’m not a good guy / but I know you’re mine.”

Satisfaction and Scripted benefit from muted arrangements that showcase his plaintive vocal delivery and effortless melismatic range. Produced by Malay (who works with Frank Ocean and is a key Icarus Falls collaborator), the latter track is carried by the ticking of a dissonant clock and a rush of violins. Paranoid lyrics about “blurry TV screens, fuzzy broken scenes” glide into a falsetto chorus about not trusting the person sleeping on the other side of the bed.

There are missteps. Icarus Falls is too long, which could be interpreted as taking a cynical page from the Drake and Migos playbook on gaming more streams. While Zayn can swag about features from Nicki Minaj (the dated EDM duet No Candle No Light) and Timbaland (the catchy but anti-climatic closer Too Much), these collabs seem like an unnecessary play for cred and are tonally jarring compared to the album’s moody ambitions.

The introspective final songs mine the quarter-life-crisis narrative. The backwards looping on Fresh Air mimics how we go back and forth on why relationships go wrong: “You and me got differences / why you on some different shit?” Within this discord, there’s a struggle to understand where responsibilities lie: “We’re caught in a cycle / so pardon my psycho.”

Meanwhile, Entertainer captures the bitter and petty comeuppance wrought by heartbreak. Stark piano chords are scuzzed-up by jittery beats while Zayn seductively takes his time dragging out the kiss-off, twisting the knife with a breathy yet scornful chorus: “When you need me the most, I will turn you / When you need me the most, I will turn you down.” Sometimes, the best revenge is abandonment.

And on Good Years – thought to be Zayn’s reflection on his fraught time in One Direction – painful divisions and breakups are let be. “Now we’re high among the stars with a worry, and neither one, one of us wants to say we’re sorry.” Here, Zayn seems to be pulling the curtain back on the cost of fame (for the stans still keeping score, this acknowledgement of boy band drama warranted a sub-tweet clap-back from bandmate Louis Tomlinson) and how men can still be in their feelings about each other. After all, women can’t be expected to fix toxic masculinity. Men need to practice introspection and vulnerability with each other.

“I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,” ends Gilbert’s Failing And Falling. “But just coming to the end of his triumph.”

Icarus Falls isn’t a literal riff on the Greek myth warning of personal over-ambition – it’s an inward, headphones-on plug into a young man wrestling with varying levels of success, from codependency and addictive behaviour to self-acceptance. It’s the sound of Zayn grappling with toxic masculinity.

Top track: Entertainer

[1dreality]

Former One Direction-er Zayn Malik’s first solo album in 2016 had a mixed reception. His rebranding to R&B-pop made sense, and vocally and production-wise, it was undoubtedly accomplished – but puerile lyrics and lack of conciseness let it down. With this context, it’s hard to believe Malik’s second full-length won’t be plagued by the same issues: the opening line is “Sweet baby, our sex has meaning” and the record comprises 27 songs (90 minutes).

But once you accept the intimidating length and occasional clumsy lyric (see: “An attack of the mind / like Optimus Prime in his prime”), there’s plenty here to appreciate. When he’s not pouring forth a gorgeous falsetto, the British-Pakistani’s vocals often channel melismatic Bollywood/qawwali-style singing with easy fluidity. The length of the release makes it feel more “playlist” than album, unified by glossy production, and it allows Malik to attempt a variety of styles: There You Are is as close as he gets to soaring 1D pop, All That is shiny and glitchy, while Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)-sampling Good Guy swirls with striking atmosphere as Malik warns he’s not who you think he is. It was easy to assume Icarus Falls might end up an exercise in hubris, but Malik is defying expectations, remaining in ascent.

[1dreality]

ZAYN Malik had better ask for some hits on his Christmas list.

The one-time One Direction superstar’s career appears to be in ruins, with his second solo album, Icarus Falls, flopping in the charts, where on Tuesday night it was sat at No64.

The 27-song collection has only shifted 1,730 copies in the UK, taking in physical sales, downloads and streams, since it was released on Friday.

In comparison, The Greatest Showman soundtrack, now in its 52nd week of release, is due to log a 23rd week at No1 on Friday, having shifted 32,563 copies in the past four days. Zayn’s last three albums with 1D and his 2016 solo debut Mind Of Mine all went in at No1.

A music insider said: “There was genuine excitement when Zayn released his last solo album because he was the first 1D member to do so.

“But interest has waned in the past two and a half years and that’s reflected in sales.

“Zayn hasn’t toured at all and has done no promo for this album, apart from one small event in New York last week, which means it has gone almost unnoticed.

“His label has poured millions into him over the past couple of years, with the album even including a costly collaboration with Nicki Minaj, but people just haven’t been listening.”

It’s an embarrassing downturn for Zayn, who seemed to have a stellar career ahead of him when he quit 1D almost four years ago.

But he has had a difficult 2018, which has been topped off by these disappointing figures.

In March, The Sun revealed he had split from his model girlfriend Gigi Hadid after more than two years together, before they got back together months later.

Then in April his long-term manager Sarah Stennett terminated her relationship with Zayn because he was difficult to work with.

If Zayn wants to get his career back on track, he needs to put in the legwork by touring and promoting.

If he doesn’t, he might find it’s not just Icarus falling, but also his chances of releasing future albums too.

[1dreality]

Early US sales and consumption projections have emerged for ZAYN’s “Icarus Falls.”

According to Hits Daily Double, the artist’s sophomore studio album is expected to sell 3-5K pure US copies during the December 14-20 tracking period. With units from track sales and streams included, it should generate about 15-20K in first-week consumption.

“Icarus Falls” is the follow-up to ZAYN’s solo debut “Mind Of Mine.” Released in 2016, that album debuted at #1 with 112K pure US copies and 157K in total consumption.

Specific projections regarding the “Icarus Falls” chart position are not yet available, but it does not appear headed for a Top 10 position on either Top Album Sales (pure sales) or the Billboard 200 (consumption).