ZAYN released his third album titled “Nobody Is Listening” on Jan. 15. In this album, ZAYN continues to embrace his post-One Direction R&B persona.

The 11-song album was accompanied by a music video for the single “Vibez,” which came out Jan. 8, prior to the album’s release. While I thoroughly enjoyed the song, I was less impressed with the video. In the video, ZAYN walks through an animated forest while singing along to “Vibez,” and while the video matched the night “Vibez” the song emits, it was quite disappointing due to the lack of action and creativity.

The album opens with the song “Calamity.” When I first listened to this song, I thought it was a little peculiar because ZAYN is speaking over some background music, which was not what I was expecting, but after giving it a few more listens, it really grew on me. Toward the end of the song, ZAYN begins to sing “nobody is listening,” which is what really drew me to liking the song. While it was not anything like what I was expecting to hear when I first heard this album, the more I listened, the more I was able to appreciate and enjoy this song.

Another one of my favorite tunes was “Tightrope.” The song talks about his relationship and how it always feels like he’s walking a tightrope, except when he is with his significant other. While the lyrics make me feel wildly lonely, the instrumentals give me a feeling of complete tranquility– like I could fall asleep to this song. Another thing I thoroughly enjoyed about this song was ZAYN’s nod to his heritage with some of the lyrics toward the end being in Urdu. I thought this was a nice way to not only show who he really is, but also give the song a unique twist to it.

My absolute favorite song off of the album was the emotional finale “River Road.” The song takes a classic piano ballad and twists it to fit a little more into the R&B genre with unique note changes and a nice crescendo into the chorus. ZAYN’s falsetto singing fully allows the listener to enter a state of ecstasy. This was the perfect song to complete the album, leaving the listener with a sense of hurt and, oddly enough, freedom.

Overall, the album includes music that reaches from steamy to romantic to energetic. It perfectly shows a story throughout a relationship and all the different aspects that may hold. While some of the songs were not my style, I did really enjoy more of the ballads and getting out of my comfort zone with a new type of music.