Room(s) Under The Stairs Inspired By ZAYN Songs

If each descending step down a spiral staircase were equal to the years since Zayn Malik released solo music, we would have taken three steps. It’s uncannily similar to the three-step silhouetted logo on Room Under The Stairs, perched right next to his artist name. Note that he continues dropping the Malik and putting his first in raging caps! When his fans aren’t belting out Zayn’s name, do they really understand the depth of his artistry? We think not! So, we’ll shout it out as he perceives it: ZAYN!

It’s not the only staircase on the album cover work, either. And we’re genuinely throwing the word around so much that we’re even digging into foreign-sounding synonyms. In which case, the French say “escaliers” for stairs! Those are resting in a washed-out blue projection of ZAYN’s face. Since we’re window peepers, one might detect various guitars and sound speakers designed by São Paulo, Brazil art director and illustrator Pedro inside (ZAYN posted the full sketch on Instagram weeks ago!) Trees and pathways brush out into the feathered touches of his eyelashes and beard. Even more striking is timber latched onto the room, supporting its thick white lines, suggesting it’s a work in progress. We mean, clearly, when there’s no roof!

That word, “stairs,” therefore represents where ZAYN recorded this album: in his own house in Pennsylvania, alongside producer Dave Cobb. There’s also the slang word itself coining our brains—the one thing clogging along upstairs. Throwing that into the picture makes all the more sense that the cover artwork depicts the contents of his mind, precisely the melodic whispers we hear throughout every track hybridizing folk and R&B. 

Sketching Out The Floorplan 

Room Under The Stairs centers around 15 tracks strung together over six years (he was so busy during these years that he even released four more songs in the form of Z SIDES, but we digress). One of ZAYN’s muses, his daughter Khai’s tiny footsteps pattering outside the studio, makes it even more authentic. We wanted to zone in on the personal touches of this album. He quite literally lets us into his house and throw our feet up on one of the couches while we brisk through every perfectly flawed note of his diary. We’ll do so by sketching up three rooms inspired by tracks off the album, diving into their creative themes and metaphors.

‘Stardust’

King of CapCut transitions, ‘Stardust’ is the latest track that got the music video treatment from ZAYN, as it came out at the same time as Room Under The Stairs. This is an interesting point, as the message appears differently in both forms.

In the music video, it’s a statement on fame. The first time he emerges into the water, a shadowed father and child watch the shooting star display. Stars have always been associated with glitzy Hollywood! Then there’s another version of him, solely in a plaid shirt, presumably what he’s wearing when roaming around his Pennsylvania farm, stuck behind a doorframe with maroon galaxies mystified behind him. As we flick back and forth between him being exposed out in the lake and collecting these fragments of ‘Stardust’ soaking into his skin, he’s creating a juxtaposition of what the industry curated him to be and who he actually is! Therefore, the lyric, “Funny how it found us,” a repeated mantra that appears as the throughline of the chorus, eerily ties into this!

Then, of course, when just taking the song as it is, it’s this serenely romantic ballad tucked into an otherwise emotional record. “I found perfume in a magazine” not only acts as the flowery language to depict his senses enveloped in his muse, but it could also be about his model ex-girlfriend, Gigi Hadid! 

Theater Room

We’re using the theater room, otherwise commonly known as the living room, for a ‘Stardust’ makeover. Think of a staircase littered with stars to lead us to the room. Then, electrified clouds swirl on the roof that dance with different lights like dark blues and pinks to make out the shape, taking us to another time continuum. For the most part, it could look like a space station with futuristic chairs, rugs with a moon-sized chunk taken out of them, and a hidden nook along the planet-strung wallpaper that rests a Rocket Raccoon doll. There has to be a place for the little ones to watch Space Nova, so perhaps a rocket ship-themed tent can go into one of the corners? Between constellation lamps and “love you to the moon and back” wall art, there’s so much to do with this theme!

‘The Time’

If Zayn’s not pulling us towards a Room Under The Stairs on this record, he’s definitely taking us to church through his memorizing vocals, and ‘The Time’ is no exception! When becoming famous, it’s almost as if you’re being pulled from all different angles, making your schedule chaotic. Yet, as he points out, there’s only one person he wants to spend time with: his daughter, Khai! During an interview with Zach Sang, ZAYN points out that the lyrics during verse two of this song—“Feedin’ families, forget the fame / I’m doing it now for a second name”—are all about her. Although ZAYN never became a musician solely to be famous, being a parent has wholly diverted his thinking, particularly about time and how precious it truly is! 

Dining Room

When we think about rooms in terms of how long we spend in each one, perhaps the dining room is the shortest! We can stay in bed even after the snooze alarm sounds and have the sounds of a binge-watch be background noise as we doze off, but once there’s no food left on our plates, we simply move on to something else. Therefore, inspiring this room, ‘The Time,’ seems fitting!

Our gateway to this room is through a numbered staircase. So when ascending, it goes up, but when going down the stairs, you’re counting backward! Then, the wallpaper is littered with spades and diamond hearts, a tie-in to playing cards. The dining table has spiraled metal dice, one on top of the other until there are three acting as its legs. The plates will always be decorated as clocks, centering food amidst the hands of time. There can even be an hourglass on the table!

‘Something in The Water’

We’re right along with you in not expecting the grimacing red ogre emoji (this guy 👹) to be wrapped around the word “water” in ZAYN’s ‘Something In The Water.’ And although it’s slightly terrifying upon our first listen, we’re totally obsessed with it now and count it as a cute quirk for the track.

It closes out the romantic trifecta on the record, with the other two being the above! Just with the added touches or waves, it’s a little friskier if we’re matching the ocean water theme. ZAYN switches things up through the line, “Caught a glimpse of your gaze, I was frozen.” When concerning matters of the heart, we could talk about having one that’s cold. It’s possible that water is denoting the free-falling energy of tangling with someone sexually, and then that skittish fright comes in when he realizes they have his heart, too. He’s not just attracted. He’s in love, which can complicate things, but he will allow it to! 

Bedroom

Considering this track is sensual, it makes sense that ‘Something In The Water’ would be up the alley of our bedroom! But we’re latching ourselves onto the water theme and having fun with it. For example, who needs an ordinary staircase to get us to this room? Not us! We’re relying on a slippery slide that awaits the floor, which is more like a crystal-blue pool, with pebbles littering the bottom that you can easily see through the water. If that’s not your thing, you can still play into this theme by simply having the sort of slide that you would find in a playground!

The ceiling can be decorated with ocean critters, with a bed resembling a giant mermaid-loving clam! Or maybe it looks like a turtle is carrying the bed with the mattress where the shell should be. Perhaps a scuba diver table lamp? Or even an aquarium at the top of the bed in a double-decker style? Not to mention a jellyfish chandelier with its tentacles springing out! We plan to hold our breath for as long as necessary, so we never have to leave the bedroom.

Tossing Over The Room Keys

Which Room Under The Stairs are you dragging your ZAYN cardboard cutout to, so you can perch headphones over his ears and let him listen to his sonic masterpiece? We all know how shy ZAYN is, but even he must boast about how gloriously special this entire piece is! So, we’ll just keep playing it until our fingertips subconsciously trace back to the loop button. Let us know which one you’re claiming over at our X/Twitter @thehoneypop!

Then head over to our Instagram and Facebook accounts, following along for more updates from our tattoo-baring Bradfordian (he’s in the mood to drop surprises lately, it seems!) Only recently did he do his first live show in eight years, and now his first TV performance in the same amount of years on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which is as impressive as those acknowledgments sound. So we can’t wait to see what else comes out of this era! 

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