I've done this before, but not like this. There's a haunted quality to "BeFoUr," established through jarring turns of phrase like numb on a roof / set it on fire or I'll take all the right wrongs, and through the shimmer effect Malay creates by multi-tracking Zayn's breathy vocals and then leaving them momentarily naked. At very least, West's sensibility has influenced this song's floating paranoia. So that's what producer Malay was thinking about when he anchored "BeFoUr" in a low, insistent snare drumbeat. But hey, that phrase is also the title of a 2013 Kanye West song. "Flashing lights!" he wails in a reference to the photographer's bulbs that have made him blink since he was 17. Zayn has a real voice, and at one point he emits a mighty falsetto note before sinking back into his hoodie again. And then there's the bigger picture: melting icecaps, global conflict, their own parents' slide into debt and social precarity.
"Innovation" is the mantra forced upon them often, opportunity seems sparse. Pushed to overachieve since infancy, yet assumed by many adults to be attention-deficient and emotionally unmoored, millennials like the 23-year-old Zayn are callow old souls buried in other people's information. It's the way this cry for a new start fits into a story that runs throughout millennial pop. But gossipy particularities aren't what makes "BeFoUr" feel relevant. On a literal level, "BeFoUr" is about Zayn's departure from One Direction, an atypically bitter split, as critic Rob Sheffield has thoroughly documented, within the polite world of manufactured teen acts. It's more like a near-disclaimer, weighing jadedness against bravado: the shrug that comes before an act of daring our hero isn't sure he wants under a spotlight. As an expression of excitement, of swagger, it's odd. I've done this before, the boy band brooder-turned-loverman intones, but not like this. Last September, Malik teamed up with pop music titan Sia on his track “Dusk Till Dawn.” Watch all of his cryptic videos below.Zayn Malik begins his latest solo hit, "BeFoUr," as if it were a statement of purpose: synthesizer swell, hushed pause, vocal hook manipulated to sound like he's speaking into a megaphone. His last album was 2016’s Mind of Mine, his solo debut after departing from One Direction. Most likely this poem in addition to the others are actually lyrics to his future songs, but Malik has yet to confirm a release date or single. “Fell from clouds/ To please no crowds/ To make one proud/ No need to shout / That loud / Ones need to stand out / Can Cloud one’s doubt / Arrogance sits beyond / Confidence / Though they touch shoulders / Look from afar / Blind to the split / That holds them,” reads one of the posts. In addition to his new musical clips, Malik posted some of his poetry to the social media platform. “She wants somebody to love,” he croons sadly in one of the clips. The clips included videos with close-ups of piano keys, with bare, bluesy vocals aiding the piano-driven melody. The heartthrob ex-One Directioner posted a few mysterious clips on Instagram that could be signaling the arrival of new music.
Zayn Malik has something up his sleeve and we’re ready for it.
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