to expand on the icarus falls analysis! it makes so much sense!!! though while i actually think that the relationship between icarus and apollo was created by fans and not actually part of the story, the theory still fits! the myth of icarus is essentially about the consequences that come with ambition/chasing pleasure and idealism (a sort of light vs dark idea, which also exists in āpillowtalkā: āiām seeing the pain, seeing the pleasureā¦ itās our paradise and itās our war zoneā) and being that zayn chose this myth as the theme for his album, itās so clear which is which for him:
i mean zayn is scary consistent with the songs on the icarus part of the album. not only are they all about love but theyāre all about a devoted, passionate, soulmate type of love. the amount of times he sings about fate!!! (āwhat if we never met?ā āwe got such a spiritual connection,ā āa million chances of our glances, catching eyes across the roomā¦ this worldās filled, somehow i see you,ā āi would live a thousand lifetimes if itās you iām sent to find,ā āanywhere you go, round the universe, iāll be there,ā āi know weāve met before,ā āsomething divine, planets align, where we should be,ā āi know iāve seen your face in different times and places,ā āiām in the right place at the right timeā) zayn himself insists ālet meā is a wedding song. (ālet me be your man so i can love you for the rest of my life, for the rest of yours, for the rest of oursā) heās singing about a serious, committed, long-lasting relationship heās willing to fight for. (āmove all the water, babe, lift the rocks up, tide getting stuck, nothing can stop us,ā āweād still make it if the planets all faded away,ā āi go where you go, go through armageddonā¦ standing on the edge of no tomorrowā¦ this could be the end of meā¦ i still follow,ā āas long as youāre feeling the same, iāll follow you into the flames,ā āi donāt mind falling if it means i get to fly againā) in āthere you are,ā zayn implies he got into trouble by becoming secretly involved with someone: āwhispers in the background, behind closed doors. i got myself in a mess and without you iām in moreā¦thatās why i went to war.ā (this also reminds me of āi wonāt mindā where he sings, āwe messed around until we found the one thing we said we could never ever live without. iām not allowed to talk about it, but i gotta tell you, cause we are who we are when no oneās watching.ā)
by the end of icarus itās obvious the sun (āyou glowā¦ you burn so bright you could blind somebodyā), what encourages him to fly, what tempts him to risk it all, is the person heās in love with.
transitioning over to the dark side of things: the fall of icarus. what are the consequences that zayn has had to face by falling in love with this person? itās in the falls side of the album that zayn sings about fame and the strain its had on his mental health, relationships, and love life. some songs, like āfingersā and āfresh airā for example, are harder to decipher since we donāt actually know the specifics of his relationships. some songs donāt feel like they belong on the album at all, like the features. they seem to disrupt the balance that the album wouldāve had if there were only 25 songs instead of 27 (i can only speculate) butā¦ there are other songs that just scream pr relationship!
in the icarus interlude, zayn starts off by comparing himself to icarus: ācall me icarus. i guess i flew too close to the sun. mythāll call me legend, and imma be one in my yves saint laurent.ā he does a play on words when he sings ālegend.ā he means both a myth (because of the tale of icarus and daedalus that heās referencing in the line that precedes it) and a celebrity. and as a celebrity (post-1d) heās been branded a style icon by being associated with a certain famous supermodel. all the promotion he gets he gets from modeling luxury brands, magazine cover shoots, and attending fashion shows, hence the yves saint laurent mention. āget the bees coming in for the honey i supply,ā meaning he provides, whether thatās media attention, press, money. he follows that with āand if you aināt got it now, then youāre in for a surpriseā suggesting he knows something that the general public doesnāt. he knows the casual listener wonāt catch on to what heās trying to say. zayn then finishes with, āaināt no stopping what i feelā¦itās you i feelā¦ iāve been lying with the liars every night, lying cause iām flying.ā this to me sounds like zayn proclaiming that his downfall (consequence) for āflyingā (falling in love) is having to ālieā (stunt). and so heās introduced the next part of the albumā¦
āgood guyā is so obviously a song about how he gets portrayed as a bad boy in the media. he sings, āiāve seen this scene beforeā¦my lines, look into your eyes, say āiām not a good guy.āā* forever, zayn has taken the blame for his failed public relationships and inflicting emotional turmoil on his innocent love interests. (which btw every single girl zaynās been associated with since the start of his career has been thin, white, and blondeā¦ that should tell you enough) from his multiple cheating scandals and breaking off an engagement with his four-year girlfriend/fiancĆ©e through text or a phone call/voicemail (??? depending on where you get your information from) to being painted as a dependent, emotionally unstable on-again, off-again boyfriend. this is zayn telling us none of it is true.
*note: acting/having lines/playing a part in a scene/pretending/lying is a recurring theme in this album! (see also: āback to lifeā: āwhat if i said game over? what if i forget my lines and i lose all my composure?ā)
āyou wish you knewā is just a follow up to this. it goes, ādonāt wanna put my love in you, donāt wanna make a headline and lose, donāt wanna be the one that you choose, cause Iām the one that you wish you knewā so zayn is unwillingly participating in a relationshipā¦ where thereās no real feelingsā¦ no personal or emotional connectionā¦ and he feels like heās being usedā¦ and the only thing he gains from it is a bad repā¦ how else do you interpret this?
while āentertainerā reads more like two people falling out of love but maintaining the relationship and playing with each otherās feelings, itās obvious that the song was written out of a more general idea: a relationship where both parties are pretending to be in love. zayn, again, talks about feeling used. āyou were my favorite entertainer. iād watch you, iād laugh, i would fuck with youā¦ i would fake it tooā¦ iāll turn you down when you need me the mostā¦ i know you need me the most.ā
āscriptedā reminds me of āitās youā* in the way that zayn sings about two different people. thereās a she and thereās a you. when it comes to she he sings, āfuzzy broken scenes, finding words donāt have flowā¦ hold her close finding love, hearts donāt feel the sameā¦ i donāt wanna say whatās scripted.ā pretty self-explanatory. and when he sings about you he goes, āit feels right, when itās only you and iā (he sings āyou and iā 5x which is really just him screaming ziam! ziam! ziam! ziam! ziam!) right before he sings āyou and iā though, he sings, āyou still remember my eyes even if the men in black flashed their light into your eyes.ā this line is a reference to the nueralyzer, a device from the movie āmen in blackā thatās used by the MiB to erase a personās memories in order to keep what they do a secret. and so from this we can infer that thereās some sort of authority in zaynās life intent on keeping his relationship with you a secret or intent on keeping them apart, unlike zaynās relationship with her which is clearly just for show.
*(āits youā: āshe got her own reasons for talking to me. she donāt give a fuck about what i needā vs āitās youā¦ am i wrong for wanting us to make it?ā)
in conclusion, zayn uses the myth of icarus as a metaphor for his life. this is probably the loudest heās ever been and yet no one seems to question the authenticity of his public image. weāre talking about 12 songs in row that consistently detail how deeply in love he is, followed by a straightforward statement on how he isnāt the type of person heās portrayed as and heavy implications of him also participating in phony relationships. and while iām sure zayn mustāve fictionalized some lines in his music too, he is the one writing all these songs. itās not just a coincidence that the same ideas are repeated multiple times throughout the album. it becomes so obvious with context. i canāt imagine taking it another way.
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