I’m sure we all remember Zayn Malik. You know, the hot guy from One Direction that left us all broken hearted about a year ago when he decided that One Direction was not the direction he was going? Well he’s back and better than ever as a solo artist. Trust me, when I say better…I mean WAY better. Now a whole year after announcing his split from the famous boy band, Zayn has become the first member to release a solo career album and it is amazing. His newest album is all R&B that is moody and impressive. It has 18 tracks including his single, PILLOWTALK.

So let’s get down to business, Zayn went from going One Direction to going the complete opposite direction. Have you heard his music? It’s a complete contrast to what he was singing with the pop group. The cute-sy pop music he was singing with the group winning the hearts of pre-teens and teens everywhere (mostly pre-teens…let’s be honest) is now moody R&B music winning the hearts of college girls everywhere.

One song I’m sure we all know by him is PILLOWTALK…*cue side-eye* Remember the song Steal My Girl by One Direction? There’s a line in the song where they basically say your parents love me and you & I are perfect together. Meanwhile, in PILLOWTALK Zayn would be every parent’s nightmare. Hot guy with tattoos talking about f*cking your daughter? Uh…nope. He describes it as paradise and a war zone…let your imaginations run.

There’s also my favorite song that he’s on right now which is Chris Brown’s Back to Sleep Remix with Zayn and Usher. So not only has Zayn flipped the script, he’s singing with two known “take you to bed” R&B singers. Not that that’s a bad thing because who doesn’t love Usher and Chris Brown let alone a song with them both on it? So anyway, remember Kiss You by One Direction? Yeah well while One Direction was trying to convince you to let them kiss you because of the rush…Zayn was convincing you that it was okay that he was waking you up and putting you BACK. TO. SLEEP.

If you didn’t realize Solo Zayn was actually a movement then you should catch up. His entire album is on Apple Music right now. I’ve been listening to it and I have to say I’m impressed. So all you ex-directioners, it’s time to go the next direction with Zayn (is that what their fans are called “directioners”?)

As a side note: I really cracked myself up with the direction jokes. Who says you can’t laugh at your own jokes?