For the sake of this argument, let’s keep things real: "PILLOWTALK" (all caps) — the lead single off Zayn’s forthcoming Mind of Mine — is a serious jam.Chronicling the ups and downs of a tumultuous relationship (fighting! fucking! no mention of nights in with Netflix at all!), Zayn’s words, hooks, and high notes epitomize the type of pop persona he’s been trying to cultivate since breaking from One Direction almost a year ago . With this song, he’s an artist. Rebelliously, in the wake of One Direction’s own break , he sings unabashedly about sex and personal conflict, and alludes to the former with floral graphics censoring frontal nudity in the corresponding music video for "PILLOWTALK." He’s an adult, and he wants us to know it.But Malik is also a pop star, and not just in the boy band sense of the word. While One Direction was a cultural and musical phenomenon, the guys’ original cookie-cutter personas still created a mold from which it was nearly impossible to deviate. For five years (or four, if you’re Zayn), the boys cultivated easily accessible personalities in the spirit of professionalism. But the difference between one’s late teens and early 20s is massive, and while Made in the A.M. (the band's latest full-length) carried grown-up themes, they were still four men part of a bigger whole.Zayn, however, is all by himself now.Which already makes him cooler than we’ve been giving him credit for. While he’s undoubtedly working with a team that’s rooting for him to succeed (he’s signed to RCA, so I think we’d all be surprised if they tossed him in the deep end of the solo pool and expected him to swim beautifully and all alone), his career — at least outside label meetings and recording sessions — now rests solely on his shoulders. He’s not surrounded by his lads. He’s not onstage alongside anyone else who can take the heat if he makes a mistake. His solo endeavor forces him to take accountability for everything from his lyrical content to his choice to cast Gigi Hadid (who he’s dating) in his "PILLOWTALK" video. Which, controversially, adds to his coolness.And I know that made you want to toss your laptop into the ocean in response to my blasphemy. Full stop: The video for "PILLOWTALK" is OTT. In it, we see Zayn and Gigi kissing and looking dramatic, and then Gigi cries tears of blood and so does Zayn, but all of it’s done under what looks like an iMovie filter or a few graphics lifted from the first edition of The Sims. (Yikes.) It’s painfully, dramatically artsy and earnest, complemented by kaleidoscope effects and nude models that drive home the point that Zayn must be taken seriously.