Since Zayn Malik’s dramatic departure from boy-band, One Direction, in March of 2015, the new solo star has gone in his own direction. On March 25^th, the singer, who goes by Zayn, released his first solo album, Mind of Mine, produced by RCA Records.

Mind of Mine features 14 tracks; the deluxe edition has another 4 songs. Most popular on the album are singles, “Pillowtalk” and “Like I Would”.

Zayn’s album blends a variety of music genres very different from that he was producing with One Direction. Mind of Mine is a melting pot of pop, soft rock, and R&B. It features slower, more intimate songs with electronic hooks and smooth lyrics. A hidden gem in this album is “Intermission: Flower”, a 1:44 song in which Zayn sings entirely in Urdu.

As this album featured his first new content away from One Direction, it was clear that he wanted to set himself apart from what he viewed as a part of a separate, past life. Zayn said in an interview that “they’re just two completely separate things and this is now more fun for me, which is the main thing for me in my life- to have happiness, and to do something that makes me feel like I’ve got a sense of achievement from what I’m doing.”

This highly anticipated album was met with much acclaim. Mind of Mine debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. In its first week of sales, it sold 157,000 album units. In response, Zayn (@zaynmalik) tweeted “blessed, honoured and thankful”.

“Pillowtalk”, the most well-known of the songs on the album, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts on February 20^th. The music video has over 316 million views on YouTube. Zayn was the first UK artist to top the charts with his first single.

Zayn is the first and only male UK solo artist to debut at No. 1 with their first album. Furthermore, he is the first UK act to debut at No. 1 with their first album since One Direction did in 2012 with their debut album, Up All Night.

Zayn is now a part of the small list of people to debut at No. 1 as both a band member and a soloist; this group includes Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, and Beyoncé.

Since his departure from One Direction, it is clear that Zayn has been busy making his own chart-smashing albums, gaining extreme prolificacy and radio play. This new album is a marker of his success as a solo artist. The different musical sound on this album from that of One Direction makes it evident that this is the style he wanted to go towards. It will be an adventure following Zayn in his endeavors as a new, hot solo artist.