Zayn is offering up a fresh sound and more intimate perspective with Room Under The Stairs, his fourth solo studio album due out on Friday, May 17. In February, Rolling Stone reported that the former One Direction star co-produced the album with “one of Nashville’s most accomplished and in-demand producers” Dave Cobb (Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton, Lady Gaga) to “explore new sonic territory and lean into pairing his unmistakable vocals with live instrumentation” to reflect his day-to-day living in rural Pennsylvania.
Will fans have the opportunity to hear Zayn’s country-leaning tone atop live instrumentation in concert?
Will Zayn Go On Tour For His Room Under The Stairs Album?
As of this writing, Zayn has not announced a tour. However, Zayn will perform a one-night-only Room Under The Stairs concert at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London on May 17, and the seemingly high probability of Zayn staging a full-blown headlining tour in support of the album was addressed within a newly published Nylon cover story, as excerpted below.
“There are other things Zayn is willing to leave the compound for. Like going on his first tour since his One Direction days, something that once seemed about as likely as an Oasis reunion. The crippling anxiety Zayn previously cited as a reason for avoiding the stage has gotten easier with time. ‘I’ve definitely learned to communicate my feelings in a way better manner. I can articulate myself in a way better sense than I could six, seven years ago,’ he says. But it’s also what the new songs deserve. ‘This type of music that I’m making just feels like the type of music I would perform. It makes sense in my mind.”
With his other albums, a tour would have required too much of a production: splashy visuals, backup dancers. (If you’re going to perform a banger like ‘Like I Would,’ somebody should be dancing, and it certainly wasn’t going to be Zayn.) He’s excited about the idea of reimagining some songs from other albums and bringing them into this new sound. ‘I haven’t been on stage for such a long time, I have a bit of a hunger for it. I feel like I have something to give again,’ he says. ‘I just didn’t want to be there before. Who wants to come watch a person that doesn’t want to be stuck there?”
Zayn’s vision for his live show is a lot like the environment he made these songs in: a small band to back him up, a rug on the floor, a stool to sit on, maybe a guitar for himself, and a mic. ‘Not too many fancy tricks,’ he says.”
Room Under The Stairs is out 5/17 via Mercury/Republic. Find more information here.