The last time we heard from Zayn, nobody was listening. This time, he’s making sure that we do. The One Direction alum recently returned with “Love Like This,” the lead single from his forthcoming fourth solo studio album.

For his first new original song since 2021, Zayn hops aboard the UK garage train that’s been chugging between both sides of the pond for most of the year. Easily a more dynamic song than most of the drowsy, meandering tracks on Nobody Is Listening, Zayn prioritizes the art of the build in “Love Like This.” So much of the song angles itself towards an ever-ascending build to a seismic climax, that when Zayn pulls back and delivers a starkly quiet first chorus, the results are perfectly unsettling. He expertly captures the split-second when time seems to stand still as you’re falling. “I guess that's love like this / Usually, I never wanna jump like this,” he sings.

As is the case with most Zayn records, he drenches his voice in reverb to an extent that muddies the interesting vocal choices he’s making. Over-produced vocals coupled with his already weak enunciation make for a song that can’t seem to get out of its own way. Nonetheless, “Love Like This” is probably Zayn’s most interesting lead single since “Pillow Talk.” There’s an urgency and liveliness here that takes him out of the haze of his last two records and into a place with a bit more color. He employs the garage motifs well by playing with how the production’s dynamism converses with the song’s narrative structure — a smart way to differentiate “Love Like This” from recent garage-tinged songs from the likes of PinkPantheress and Leigh-Anne.

Zayn hasn’t so obviously gestured towards a desire for commercial success in a minute, but “Love Like This” unequivocally positions him in that direction — and it just might set off a new era of mainstream success for him too.

Score: 62