A day after announcing that he and Gigi Hadid have welcomed a baby daughter into the world, Zayn has welcomed another creation into this earthly realm: his latest single, “Better,” a lovely slice of R&B pop anchored by Z’s massive, massive voice.
The breezy, endearing song debuted alongside a sparse but stately video, where the heavily tattooed new daddy Zaddy dresses himself in fine menswear and stares moodily out the window of a nice house — all while he’s being spied on. Like a celebrity. Or an actual spy.
As Zayn sings with red highlighted hair, “Your dad probably loves me more than he ever did now / ‘Cause I finally got out / Yeah, we finally knocked down,” there’s a palpable air of second chances throughout “Better,” and it’s tempting to read his on-and-off relationship with Hadid into it, especially now, given their new beginning as parents.
On the simple cooing pre-chorus, Zayn repeats “I love you” over some thoroughly nocturnal and subterranean guitar lines. In the video, he does little more than slowly put on a shirt and a jacket while delivering the song’s climbing melody, but it’s Zayn, so it’s worth watching.
“Better” is the first new bit of music from Zayn since last year’s “Trampoline” remix with SHAED and “Flames” alongside R3hab and Jungleboi. His most recent album, Icarus Falls, dropped at the end of 2018.
If 2020 is indeed the start of some new chapters for Zayn — both in his music career and his own family — then things seem to be going quite well. Check out “Better” above.
