Nobody Is Listening / ZAYN / January 15, 2020
- Joshua Yoo
- Jan 17, 2021
- 1 min read
The title of the album may be a bit misleading, because even though it’s been three years since Zayn’s previous album, his solo artistic career has always been one of much interest, especially with his recent beginnings with fatherhood a couple months prior. But ‘Nobody Is Listening’ is not the more personal or vulnerable project that it tries to be, instead falling into a familiarly surface-level and safe blend of R&B.
More stripped-back and minimal, much of the production attempts to set the stage for Zayn to open up, with inconsistent success. “River Road” is a miss on this regard, the pop ballad losing sentimentality to its rather unsteady vocal melodies and unsettled instrumentation. The guitar-drowned trap flow on “Windowsill,” with quite an unappealing hook melody, manages to dilute much of the song’s romance and passion as well.
With Zayn’s vocal ability as one his greater assets, a number of performances underwhelm accordingly, with issues of clarity or tone that arise here and there. His experimentation with falsetto proves to be more shaky than anything else, the greatest offense found on “Connexion,” where Zayn’s vocal tonality is uncharacteristically and gratingly dissonant on his upper register.
In an overall sense, ‘Nobody Is Listening’ has trouble establishing much of anything substantive for Zayn’s artistry, whether that be realized or promising musical direction, or thematic depth. It feels as though he is still finding trouble taking any more than just a few steps forward.
Highlight(s): Tightrope, Sweat
Lowlight(s): Connexion, Windowsill, River Road, Unfuckwitable, Vibez
SCORE: 3/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75EYy4cI4_U
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