Zayn Malik's new solo album: Release date, song titles and everything else you need to know 

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The cat\'s been well and truly out the bag for a while now - ​One Direction\'s best singer is going solo. And while the tabloids squabble over what\'s in store for the rest of the boys - from Jay Z mentorship to fatherdom - Zayn has a record ready and waiting to go.

The 22-year-old is ready to free himself from the "generic as f**k" music of 1D and establish himself as a serious artiste. But will he be the Robbie Williams of the band... or the Chris Kirkpatrick?  

We\'ve gone through every interview, leaked demo and Twitter spat to compile everything you need to know about Zayn Malik\'s debut solo album.​

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Zayn inked a deal with RCA Records to make #realmusic in July last year. That means he\'s joined acts like Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, R Kelly, Usher and, erm, Bullet for My Valentine.​

Yes. But he\'s not telling. "I have a name for it in my head right now, but I don\'t want to tell you what the album name is," he said. Spoilsport.​

James \'Malay\' Ho has stepped forward as Zayn\'s main collaborator and producer. Sound familiar? That\'s because he also worked on Frank Ocean\'s lauded

album. Malay\'s also worked on records for Alicia Keys, John Legend and Tori Kelly.

​​Zayn\'s given a serious-sounding \'mission statement\' for the record. In it he says he "can map every lyric and every note to mean something to [him]", adding: "It\'s a snapshot of my life and the thoughts on my life, my hopes, my aspirations, and my regrets in the summer of 2015."

That could mean we\'ll get some honest reflections on things like leaving One Direction and his highly publicised split from Perrie Edwards. Or it could just see us get a better idea of who Zayn is as a person. After all, how much do we

know Zayn besides him being marketed as the \'mysterious one\' in the group.

It looks like this is all going to be Zayn. He\'s keen to show people he can do it on his own without any gimmicks. He\'s certainly done all the writing on his own. Having said that, both 50 Cent and Tyler, the Creator have expressed an interest in working with the Bradford singer, so who knows?

There\'s also the fact that Naughty Boy\'s called Zayn "actually quite a good rapper", while 50 Cent\'s said he\'s interested in bringing out the singer\'s hip-hop side. Could we even hear some Zayn Malik raps?

​"Early 2016" is all we\'ve been told thus far. But with the likes of Harry Styles hot on his heels and already registering solo tracks, Zayn will be wise not to wait around for too long.​

cover story, Zayn said he\'d been inspired by everything from his dad\'s record collection (

​"A lot of R&B, a lot of R Kelly, a lot of Usher, a lot of Donell Jones, a lot of Prince.

​He used to play a lot of rap as well, 2Pac and Biggie.

Having said that, it sounds like Zayn\'s going for a predominantly R&B vibe. His teased (and provocatively-named) track \'BeFour\' sounds like it\'s borrowed from The xx and is said to have "sour synths". Similarly,

 Zayn\'s vocals sound closer to "Miguel or The Weeknd - mid-range R&B with a distinct awareness of its own head-nodding flow". Very decent comparisons by all means.

. "They don\'t really fit a specific type of music. They\'re not like, \'This is funk, this is soul, this is upbeat, this is a dance tune\'. Nothing is like that. I don\'t really know what my style is yet."

One thing\'s for sure though, it won\'t sound like One Direction. ​"It doesn\'t feel like choreographed pop," RCA chairman/CEO Peter Edge

Interestingly, Zayn\'s taken to writing from other people\'s perspectives. The singer\'s written one song, \'My Ways\', about his father  - while another, \'I Got Mine\', was inspired by a guy in a guitar shop striking up conversation about his Prince T-shirt.

feature, explaining each line is from a different perspective. 

Talk is cheap but we still talk it/ Road is far but we still walk it/ Writing chalks or change the story

. At that point, that could be like a teacher writing on the chalkboard, writing a story, but they can change it.

. The dustbin man, putting the garbage out, whatever.

Thoughts come out just like they\'re pouring

. An alcoholic guy who\'s, like, a super creative dude. It was all different perspectives."

We\'ve already discussed \'Befour\', \'I Got Mine\' and \'My Ways\'. Zayn\'s also let slip in a

interview that there\'s a track called \'She\', which apparently sounds like 

​"shadowy, au courant R&B". We can also expect "a sweep of strings" in \'It\'s You\' and "whip-crack snare" in \'Wrong\'.

When Zayn sauntered his way out of 1D, he went straight into Naughty Boy\'s arms (OK, studio). But things turned nasty when the singer became irked by Naughty Boy\'s meddling and the leaking of a demo seemingly without his knowledge. The producer\'s said that Zayn\'s making "a very soulful record".​ As far as we know, Naughty Boy\'s out of the equation, but stranger things have happened at sea (especially in pop).

Let\'s not forget Zayn was working on demos for One Direction with Naughty Boy way before things kicked off. One of those was the melancholy \'I Won\'t Mind\', which the band ultimately rejected.

All in all, Zayn\'s solo debut is one of the most anticipated albums of the year. And one we suspect might convert some of those One Direction naysayers.

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