Album Review: ZAYN – KONNAKOL
2 min read
ZAYN’s life pre 2016 is a well-trodden story of legendary proportions, but that shouldn’t diminish the work that has gone into his musical journey since then. Now five albums deep into his solo career, he has had huge world-wide hits spanning that entire catalogue, and in the process managed to carve a new path away from his past in One Direction. This year, he’s returned with a new sound, and a new record, KONNAKOL.
Nusrat opens the album with ominous vocal layers and a stark vocal from ZAYN. He rattles through the verse at a pace, before the track opens up into a spacious pop chorus. The interesting production choices continue on Betting Folk, a reverb heavy guitar line competing with a tight drum pattern. A crowd sing-song and string sample elevate the song even more to arena-pop proportions. Used to the Blues is a driving but melancholic track that builds towards the end with psychedelic-esc reversed vocal chops and airy samples, while 5th Element’s side chain bass and plucky keys keep the low-key aesthetic but make the listener want to dance along.
Met Tonight is the first track to use autotune to its full effect, ZAYN’s voice sliding over the generic sun-tinged R&B. It’s not unenjoyable, but the tone of the track is more outwardly joyful than what came before and after. Fatal is another low-key, heavy bass song with a trance influence, while Take Turns utilises vocal samples and a Weeknd-esc beat to achieve its dark tone. Loving The Way I Do and Breathe both groove along with deep and gritty synth lines, the former matching it with a guitar just as distorted and grungy. The album closes on Die For Me, the most popular and polished track on the collection, feeling misplaced sonically but working as an undeniably good closing track.
KONNAKOL is a drastic shift from ZAYN’s last full length release, but is also a far cry from the styles that he embraced earlier on in his career. It’s experimental, gritty, and messy in the best way. Many of the songs have interesting progressions, intriguing sounds, and vocally ZAYN sounds right at home. It’s a great next step for an artist clearly still happy to explore his craft.
Writer and Musician, Ryan Bulbeck has been published with a number of online publications, and has worked with a myriad of great artists, both as a performer, and as a producer. His most recent band The 295 are still active, playing shows around the UK.
