Konnakol, by definition, is the art of preforming percussion syllables vocally originating in South Asia. Not only did Malik name his album after this technique but implemented it in his new album. While Malik’s music has always been culturally inspired, this album overtly fuses identity with his sound. The opening track ‘Nusrat’ is intentionally named after musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, a direct association to his Pakistani roots. Not only is his music influenced by his heritage, but so is the album cover. The symbolic cover art, which can be seen above, shows Malik’s face merged with a snow leopard, an animal native to South Asia.

In an interview with Elle India he explained this process: “We started with a click, didn’t even have a drum, which gave us the starting point, and built the track around the ad-libs and Konnakol influences, and then wrote over the track in English.” Explaining, “It’s always important for me to bring my culture into things because I feel that’s what makes me, me. There are not many Indian-Pakistani artists here in the West that the world knows, so it makes it unique and individual.”

The former One Direction member announced his tour back in February, being his first headline arena and stadium tour. The ‘Konnakol’ tour will begin on May 12^th kicking off his UK leg, he will perform in Manchester, Dublin, Glasgow, Birmingham, and London. The American leg will then start from the 14^th of June.

Unfortunately, Malik was rushed to hospital on the same day as his album release. He took to Instagram to say “To my fans- Thank you to all of you for your love & support now & always- been a long week and am still unexpectedly recovering. Heartbroken that I can’t see you all this week.”

“I wouldn’t be in the place I am today without you guys and am so thankful for your understanding. Thank you to the incredible hospital staff of Drs, nurses, cardiologist, management, admin and everyone who has helped along the way and continue to. You are all legends! Big big love xx z”

Although his illness remains a mystery, he is still scheduled to perform his first show in Manchester in the coming month. Tickets can be bought on Ticketmaster as well as other websites, and the new album can be listened to via all major streaming platforms.

The milestone moment occurred at the Palacio De Los Deportes, where Malik kicked off his ‘Stairway To The Sky’ tour with his first-ever solo arena show. Choosing ‘Night Changes’ as the opening track, the singer stood in awe as the crowd sang along, visibly moved by the overwhelming response.

It was an especially poignant performance, almost exactly a decade after Malik’s departure from One Direction in March 2015. Addressing the audience mid-show, Malik shared his feelings, reportedly saying, “I haven’t sung this song in 10 years. Thank you, that was amazing, I almost cried.”

Beyond the emotional opener, Malik treated fans to a setlist packed with solo material, including tracks like ‘Pillowtalk’, ‘Lied To’, and ‘Shoot At Will’. He also surprised the crowd with a heartfelt cover of Paolo Nutini’s ‘Last Request’. The full setlist from the night is as follows:

1. ‘Night Changes’ (One Direction)

2. ‘My Woman’

3. ‘Birds on a Cloud’

4. ‘Dreamin’

5. ‘Lied To’

6. ‘In the Bag’

7. ‘Ignorance Ain’t Bliss’

8. ‘Scripted’

9. ‘Sweat’

10. ‘BoRdErZ’

11. ‘iT’s YoU’

12. ‘Shoot at Will’

13. ‘Last Request’ (Paolo Nutini cover)

14. ‘PILLOWTALK’

15. ‘Concrete Kisses’

16. ‘What I Am’

17. ‘Alienated’

18. ‘Gates of Hell’

The Mexico City concert followed a difficult period for Malik. In late 2024, his Newcastle show was unexpectedly canceled just moments before it was set to begin. In a statement, the cancellation was announced with an apology for the short notice. Malik later explained via Instagram Stories that his voice wasn’t in good condition, saying, “I’m so sorry to do this but my voice just isn’t there at all tonight and without it, there’s no show. I’m truly sorry to let you down.”

Adding to the emotional weight of the tour, Malik had previously postponed his US concert dates in the wake of the tragic passing of his former bandmate, Liam Payne. Payne died on October 16 after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

When Malik resumed his UK tour in Leeds on November 23, he closed the show with a touching tribute to Payne. The screen behind him displayed Payne’s birth and death years, accompanied by the heartfelt message: “Love you bro.”

Despite the hardships, Malik’s return to the stage and his powerful performance of ‘Night Changes’ served as a moving reminder of his enduring connection to his One Direction roots. Fans can expect the postponed US tour dates to take place in January 2025, as Malik continues his journey as a solo artist.

As reported by the Daily Mail, the announcement came when Zayn jokingly told Fallon: ‘I’m going on my first-ever solo tour this autumn so maybe when you’re done picking apples with your buds, you can come check out my Stairway To The Sky Tour across the US and UK. Let me know what date you want tickets for.’

Zayn then went on to confirm this in a post to social media on Wednesday September 18th which read: “Appreciate your patience, love, and support. Can’t wait to enjoy great music together. This time I really mean soon see you in 35 days…”

The tour, titled Stairways to the Sky, will consist of only 5 performances in the US and 6 in the UK. The US leg will commence on October 23rd in San Fransisco and will also include stops in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and New York. The UK leg will begin on November 20th in Edinburgh, Scotland, followed by dates in Leeds, Manchester, London and Wolverhampton before finishing in Newcastle on December 3rd.

Tickets will go on sale Sunday the 21st of September.

Zayn, previously a member of the hit boy band One Direction, left the group in November of 2015 to pursue a solo career, citing the desire for more creative freedom and personal space. His debut solo album, Mind of Mine, was released in 2016, and its lead single, Pillowtalk, became a global hit.

He has collaborated with various artists, including Taylor Swift on the song I Don’t Wanna Live Forever for the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack, and Sia on the song Dusk Till Dawn.

The news of Zayn’s first solo tour comes after the release of his latest album, Room Under the Stars, on the 17th of May. The album features 20 tracks, including Dreamin, What I Am, and Stardust. 

This is the fourth studio album Zayn has released, and has been referred to by Pitch Fork as a “coming-clean, back to basics record.” The album contains references to romantic struggles and long-term relationships, with references to his on-again-off-again partner Gigi Hadid.

In the song Shoot at Will, Zayn makes clear references to his ex-partner Hadid with whom he shares a daughter, singing: “When I look at her, all I see is you/When you look at her, do you see me too?” This moment of emotional clarity strips down Zayn’s feelings to reveal the complexities of love and parenthood.

The Rolling Stones described the country music style of the album, saying that “this newfound country change suits him incredibly well.”

Other critics have praised the album for its honesty and authenticity, with Slug Mag stating:  “Zayn grapples with both things he knows and things he doesn’t. Those ideas, which are often hard to put into words, are bracketed by his adaptable vocal range and gentle, lo-fi production.”

The song which dropped on March 17th 2021 tells a story of rebirth after a near-apocalypse. The song’s narrative hits home for all as it relates to the current crisis in which the world has faced with COVID, along with the ray of hope brought by the recent vaccine, which is meant to bring the world back from the brink of destruction. With lyrics such as, ‘”When the world was ending/ I’d hold you in my arms/ And we talked about the places we’d never been/ When the world was ending/ We’d hold on to the past/ Because it’s all we thought that we would ever see”, it is a ballad filled with hope which the world needs to hear.

Speaking with Radio.com, Malik expressed his joy with the track as well as working with Michaelson. Within the interview he also spoke about the relationship to the current pandemic in which the track holds. “It speaks volumes to the way that people are feeling and it resonated with me and that’s why I wanted to be a part of it”

Michaelson, who has been busy penning the soundtrack for her upcoming stage adaption of the famous film, ‘The Notebook’, has said that she wrote the song soon after the news of Joe Biden’s recent win of the US precedency. The songwriter had this to say in a recent statement about the event, “I wrote ‘To Begin Again’ the night that Biden won. There was so much joy in my neighbourhood. Pots and pans being banged out of windows. Horns and whistles. Clapping. Singing! The collective sigh of relief resonated with me in such a way that I had to get it out musically. I sat at the piano and wrote most of the song right there in 15 minutes,”

She then continued to remember the moment she realised that the song was meant to be a duet. “I love ZAYN’s voice, especially when he goes high and sweet and sad. It was the perfect fit. The song is a song of hope and of release. Of beginning again…” Luckily Zayn’s representatives had contacted her in January last year to express his interest in working together.

The former One Direction star took to Twitter on March 17th to inform fans of the release of the pair’s optimistic ballad.

.@ingridmusic https://t.co/RDgnLWB0QM

— zayn (@zaynmalik) March 17, 2021

Malik, who left supergroup boyband One Direction in 2015, recently released his third studio album as a solo artist, under the new name, Zayn. The album entitled ‘Nobody is Listening‘ was released in January of this year and reached number 17 on the UK album charts. The album follows his first two studio albums, ‘Mind of Mine‘ and ‘Icarus Falls‘ and featured two singles, ‘Better‘ and ‘Vibez‘. The singer’s solo career started with a bang with the release of debut single, ‘Pillowtalk‘ which saw Malik’s girlfriend, American supermodel Gigi Hadid featured in the video. The single, released in January 2016 gave the singer his first solo number one. 

Click here to stream the duet.

The album is true to Zayn as an artist who strives for individuality and there is a large enough space between this album and any of the One Direction oeuvre to allow this to be seen as a statement of an individual and it stands on its own merit. ‘Nobody Is Listening,’ is true to the R&B style which Zayn has been known for since launching his solo career with creative drum patterns and throbbing bass front and centre and acrobatic vocal feats galore. There is something conceptual to the album from the rough edged rap-style intro track ‘Calamity,’ with premiers the title phrase, to the tension soaked ‘Sweat,’ and unshakable ‘Unfuckwitable,’ which rattles with post-boyband attitude.

It’s too early to say how Zayn’s third album will be received by his fans and the general public, however it is clear  that he has a long way to go if he is to recapture the breakthrough success of 2016 debut ‘Mind of Mine,’ which was a UK number one album and charted for a whopping ten weeks. Not only did he score a hit album with his breakthrough, Zayn also scored a number one single with ‘PILLOWTALK,’ which outlasted the album by sticking in the UK singles charts for an incredible 28 weeks. The track’s success is reflected in his Spotify stats which record a stunning 893 million streams for ‘PILLOWTALK,’ a figure which is only outmatched by his collaboration with Sia for his second album ‘Icarus Falls,’ and that only by 2017’s pairing with Taylor Swift for ‘I Don’t Wanna Live Forever,’ which was recorded for the Fifty Shades Darker Soundtrack, a song which has been streamed over a billion times.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Zayn Malik (@zayn)

While a number of years have now passed since One Direction parted ways, with Zayn’s departure coming slightly sooner than the rest, any solo release is bound to invite comparisons with fellow Syco alumni Harry Styles, who has also been carving out a successful solo career in the years since the band’s hiatus began. While the styles which both singers have carved out for themselves since departing the band could not be more different, one thing which is similar is the roaring success both have achieved in their own right. Harry Styles’ second solo effort ‘Fine Line,’ landed last year and standout track ‘Watermelon Sugar,’ has also reached the billion streams on Spotify milestone, stiff competition for Zayn who has yet to reach this level with an album track without any featured artists.

‘Nobody Is Listening,’ can be streamed or purchased here via Youtube, Spotify or any other major platform.

https://t.co/mOJAuVlmYF pic.twitter.com/lTeg4SJpMG

— zayn (@zaynmalik) September 25, 2020

The new track was accompanied by a music video too. The video, directed by Ryan Hope, who directed Zayn’s song iT’s YoU, which received 3.5 billion views, shows Zayn walking around an art-deco styled home singing and getting dressed into a stunning blue fitted suit. After just being up for twelve hours, the video already has 2.2 million views.

One Direction fans are well known for their undying love for the band members, even after the split in 2015, and this drop is no exception. Fans took to the comments of the music video to share their love for the new music. One wrote saying; “The only bad thing is that the song is too shoort, I neeed moree” followed by crying emojis. Another added; “not me crying over the fact ive watched him grow up to be this man.”

Zayn announced the birth of his daughter on Thursday the 24th of September in an Instagram post, with a black and white photo of him holding his daughter’s hand, saying; “Our baby girl is here, healthy and beautiful. To try put into words how i am feeling right now would be an impossible task. The love I feel for this tiny human is beyond my understanding. Grateful to know her, proud to call her mine, and thankful for the life we will have together.” 

View this post on Instagram

Our baby girl is here, healthy and beautiful to try put into words how i am feeling right now would be an impossible task. The love I feel for this tiny human is beyond my understanding. Grateful to know her, proud to call her mine, and thankful for the life we will have together x

A post shared by Zayn Malik (@zayn) on Sep 23, 2020 at 8:17pm PDT

Better is available now, you can watch the video below.