As my high school years went on my devotion to One Direction faded. I grew up and became more invested in school and friends.

However I was still in the loop with what was going on among the boys in the band. Who was dating who? Who was sporting a new hairstyle? I just didn’t get caught up in the hype the same way I had before. All of the band members grew up with millions of people watching their every move. What I believe many forgot was that behind the glamour of performing and fame, they had to maintain a personal life.

When Zayn Malik left, suddenly “the world was coming to end.” I thought nothing of it. Similar to clothing it is only natural to outgrow your taste in music eventually. Malik had simply outgrown the boy band scene.

However when Malik released his debut single Pillow Talk on Jan. 25, I was curious to hear his new sound. The music which he considered to be so much bigger and better than One Direction.

A lot of the video appears as though the viewer is watching through a kaleidoscope. Malik’s love interest in the video is supermodel and real life girlfriend Gigi Hadid. While the camera is recording, the viewer can clearly see Malik is more in his elements, making the music better than anything he had produced during his time with One Direction. Like most music artists who break away from the “teeny bopper” scene, his debut video features women in revealing clothes and the lyrics use profanity to talk about sex. Most likely to branch away from One Direction and relate to a now older and more mature group of listeners. This being the only downside for a younger audience with parental controls. However if taken negatively these things are easily overlooked by the quality of the music itself. Not to mention the song and lyrics in general are just really well throughout.

The chorus along with the abstract video may be the best part of the entire song, with lyrics like “The place to lose your fears-Yeah/ reckless behavior/ A place that is so pure/ so dirty/ and raw.

My interpretation of these lyric and ultimately the whole song, while it is open to different interpretation, tells a story of finding your comfort zone with the person you love. Once that comfort zone is found you are able to let your guard down and just be open and raw with them.

It’s one of those songs you really have to “feel.” By saying “feel” I mean it took me about 20 seconds to really get into it. Part of that is undeniably because the person listening mostly likely has a preconceived opinion of Malik and his choice to leave One Direction to pursue his solo career. Another reason is simply because the listener has absolutely no idea what to expect. Is he going to sound similar to One Direction or completely on the other end of the spectrum?

Ultimately “Pillow Talk” left me really excited to see what Malik is going to do next. Like what all good artists should do to their audience, I will definitely be watching and waiting for what’s to come before the album releases on March. 25.