ROOM UNDER THE STAIRS (Z SIDES)

“Say goodbye to the past/Leave it all with a laugh,” ZAYN reflects on his single “Alienated” from his fourth solo LP *ROOM UNDER THE STAIRS*. The British Pakistani singer is learning now how time heals wounds. It was nearly a decade ago that he left One Direction and forged on alone, releasing three albums while bearing the public scrutiny of fame, high-profile relationships, breakups, and in recent years becoming a father. Decamping to a farm in rural Pennsylvania provided a sanctuary from the noise, where, through nurturing his daughter, as well as animals and a garden, he learned his own ways of self-care. *ROOM UNDER THE STAIRS* refers to the space where ZAYN recorded the album: an actual shoe cupboard in his home. From familiar surroundings, he steps into largely unexplored territory, submerging himself in the stripped-back, country-inspired sounds he’d touched upon at the tail end of his third album *Nobody Is Listening* in 2021. Assisted by renowned Nashville producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile), ZAYN’s voice and lyrical vulnerability here are as raw and resonant as the acoustic instrumentation, with a weary soulfulness fit for the questions—about life, love, growth, and parenthood—that emerge in the stillness of solitude. “I’ve been needing something else/I’ll know what it is when I see it,” he sings on album opener “Dreamin.” On the bittersweet \"What I Am,” he sets boundaries and asks for acceptance, while reverberating guitars, cinematic strings, and background croons create a vast soundscape for live-and-learn revelations on “Grateful.” Healing isn’t always linear, as the twinkling, wide-eyed love of “Stardust” whiplashes into “Gates of Hell,” which seethes with loathing. But it’s “The Time,” a song about the joy his daughter brings to his life, that shows ZAYN’s hard-won maturity.