【搬运译】滚石Rolling Stone评Zayn Malik 2021年专辑《Nobody Is Listening》

翻译：出自微信公众号【RollingStone大水花】（若有侵权自删）https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/JgqDHPj2vb6co4QnCV6W6w

Zayn Malik kicks off his third solo album wondering, as its title indicates, if anybody is listening to him. And as you might guess, he’s pretty sure nobody is: “My brain lives with the cannabis/Can I resist the dark abyss?” he offers on “Calamity,” a silly spoken-word poem in which the ex-One Direction member turned solo hitmaker sounds like a teenage stoner. 

赞恩·马里克的第三张个人专辑顾名思义，开头便问还有没有人在听他。你可能已经猜到，他觉得没有了：“我的大脑和大麻共生/我能抗拒这黑暗深渊吗？“（My brain lives with the cannabis/Can I resist the dark abyss?）他傻气的口语诗“Calamity”唱道，让这位成功单飞的One Direction前成员听来像是***的中学生。

Malik has a point. It’s been more than two years since his last album, Icarus Falls, an aptly titled 27-track follow-up to his much sleeker 2016 debut, Mind of Mine. Both LPs left listeners with more questions than answers about what Malik wanted out of his post-1D career: chart-topping success or the kind of musical honesty that can lead to 27-song records named after figures from Greek mythology? 

马里克的担心其实不无道理。距离他上张专辑《伊卡洛斯坠落》已经两年了，那张27首歌的专辑有一个恰如其分的名字，代表了与他第一张专辑《心解密》的落差。两张LP都没有指明他在One Direction之后的路线，反而叫人更加困惑：他是想称霸流行榜，还是奉献诚意，诚意到足以诞生一张用希腊神话人物命名，整整27首歌的作品？

Despite its brooding introduction, Nobody Is Listening shows both restraint and growth from a new dad who just turned 28, even if the songs seem more reflective of his relationship with longtime partner Gigi Hadid than of his journey into fatherhood. Given Malik’s R&B-crooner ambitions, it’s a good thing he can sing the hell out of a love song. 

忧郁开场后，《没有人在听》也展现了他刚满28岁，初为人父的内敛与成长，尽管专辑中的歌曲似乎更多是在反思他和女友吉吉·哈迪德的长期关系，而不是他为人父亲的心路历程。但马里克就连情歌也展现了不俗唱功，不枉他想要做R&B歌手的努力。

The smooth lead single, “better,” is a sweet, intimate portrait of second chances that sets the tone for the coffee-shop-guitar sound of the LP. “Outside” sees him tenderly begging for forgiveness, while the falsetto-laden “Connexion” is Malik confirming that he’s ready to “go head first into the unknown.” Featuring chill vocals from neo-soul singer Syd, the breezy “When Loves Around” has Malik hinting at the possibility of marriage while showing off how well he works with the right duet partner. 

主打歌“better”流畅悦耳，甜蜜温馨地描绘再来过的机会，为整张LP咖啡店吉他曲般的音乐奠定基调。“Outside”中，他柔声乞求原谅，而在频繁假音的“Connexion”里，马里克又准备好了“一头冲进未知”。轻快的“When Loves Around”呈现了新灵魂乐歌手Syd的慵懒声线，马里克在其中一面暗示结婚的可能，一面炫耀他和合唱搭档的完美配合。

There are still some moments of irrepressibly horny R&B, recalling Mind of Mine. “Windowsill” is both the dirtiest and catchiest song on the album — much better than the diluted “Sweat,” though that song’s “In the Air Tonight” drum fill right before the chorus gives it some much-needed energy. 

这张专辑依然有情欲涌动的R&B，叫人想起《心解密》。“Windowsill”是专辑中最脏也最洗脑的歌曲——远远好过索然无味，有气无力的“Sweet”，尽管“Sweet”副歌前一段“In the Air Tonight”风格的鼓点带来了些许活力。

The record reaches its peak with the one-two punch of “Tightrope” and “River Road,” delicate closing statements and two of Malik’s best songs to date. The former is an inspired love song that finds power in its simplicity, with the singer repeating the phrase “Something told me it was you.” “River Road” encroaches on Leon Bridges’ retro-soul territory, as Malik sings hopefully about his future, delivering the most sobering vocal performance on a largely subdued, bedroom-y project. If he really thinks nobody is listening, that’s fine by him; there’s only one person he has in mind anyway, and there’s nothing more honest in pop music than that.

这张专辑的高潮是“Tightrope”和“River Road”，这两首在专辑最后的精品，可以列入马里克迄今为止最好的作品。前者是有感而发的情歌，简洁中充满力量，他在歌里反复唱道：“Something told me it was you”。“River Road”接近利昂·布里奇斯（Leon Bridges）的复古灵魂乐，马里克在歌里畅想未来，是这张柔和得适合在卧室聆听的专辑里最冷静的声音。就算他真的觉得没人听他也没关系，反正他只在乎一个人，而流行音乐里的坦诚，也莫过如此了。