Zayn: Nobody Is Listening review – Heaving sound of sensitivity, smut and seduction

If Zayn Malik were an Ikea display room, he would be a purple boudoir that features a rotating bed and stacks of half- read Charles Bukowski books. Working with producers Scribz Riley and Rogét Chahayed , the former One Directioner serves a heaving sound of sensitivity and seduction on his third solo album.

Showing total disregard for home sanitisation on Windowsill, Malik promises to pleasure his lover “on the countertop, window to the floor” over electronic crunches. And on Sweat, he sprinkles well-executed filth on top of a stuttering 1980s synth riff.

But it’s not all carefully arranged smut. Presumably, the secondary character in most songs is Malik’s model girlfriend Gigi Hadid, who gave birth to their first child in September. Making a late night case for second chances on Better, he commits his mind, body and soul to her on misspelt romps Vibez and Connexions.

Doing his best Frank Ocean impersonation, the media-shy 27-year-old explains the “cold shoulder” he shows to the world on Unf*ckwitable. On opening track Calamity he self-deprecatingly declares that “nobody is listening to me” when, in fact, millions are.

As he lets his voice meander over lazy guitars on River Road, it’s clear that, having been in One Direction, Zayn has now found his niche in lo-fi R&B-pop that’s intentionally made without any aim at all.