A year after leaving One Direction, Zayn Malik becomes the first member of the band to release a solo effort in its world-conquering wake. Rife with pop-R&B slow jams and stunning candor, Mind of Mine is an elegantly sung declaration of independence that is at once moody, ornate, and thoroughly impressive. While echoes of Frank Ocean and Usher can be heard throughout (much of the album was co-written and produced by Malay, a collaborator on Ocean’s GRAMMY®-winning breakthrough, channel ORANGE), Malik’s voice retains a hypnotic edge, from the sultry heights of “PILLOWTALK” to the resplendent buzz of “rEaR vIeW.” No moment proves as piercing as “fLoWer,” a brief intermission in which Malik unfurls a lace-like vocal melody in his father’s native Urdu.