Very shortly after his veiled words to Harry Styles resonated in media around the world, Zayn starts the promotional machinery for his next album, a work titled ‘Konnakol’ that will go on sale on April 17. That is, it will not coincide with Harry Styles’ album, which comes out earlier, on March 6. Louis Tomlinson’s, of course, is already out.
‘Die for Me’, the first preview of ‘Konnakol’, is now available and recovers the bombastic pop sound that Malik practiced at the beginning of his career, in songs like ‘I Don’t Wanna Live Forever’, his duet with Taylor Swift. Far from the folk style of his last album, ‘Die for Me’ offers pure pop drama coated with touches of torch song (those bells), doo-wop (that piano) and crawling electronic textures that point to The Weeknd of a decade ago.
‘Die for Me’ seems designed to return Zayn to the top of the charts, which have eluded him for some time. Sticking to the United Kingdom, in 2025, his collaboration with Jisoo ‘Eyes Closed’ did not go beyond position 37. ‘What I Am’, from 2023, was at number 89. In other words, it has been a long time since Malik has equaled the data of ‘Pillowtalk’, his only number 1 in the United Kingdom, or at least ‘Don’t Wanna Live Forever’ and ‘Dusk Til’ Dawn’ with Sia, both located in fifth place. Zayn’s second biggest solo hit is ‘Let Me’, which reached a top 20 hit in 2018.
Furthermore, the “feline” cover of ‘Konnakol’ has been revealed, which will divide its followers: there are already those who say that it is one of the “worst” covers in history. We wouldn’t go that far, but covers in which artists merge with animals or objects (shout out to Lady Gaga) usually don’t go down well at first.
The word “konnakol” comes from the classical music of South India – Carnatic music – and refers to the art of playing rhythms using spoken syllables instead of an instrument. Basically, it is a system for “singing” percussion patterns.
According to the official note, the meaning of “Konnakol” for Zayn is personal. “It is a sound that resonates in a time before the existence of words,” explains the Universal text. “Inspired by his own heritage, this album is a development of that understanding, knowing now more than ever who he is, where he comes from and where he is going.”
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