<table align="center"><tr><td align="right" valign="middle" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 9px; letter-spacing:1px; text-transform: uppercase;line-height:10px;"><br />happy birthday<br><br>mind of mine<br /></td><td><a href="ENTRY LINK"><img src="https://imgur.com/iOlWyd1.gif" width="55" style="border-radius: 50px; box-shadow: 1px 1px 2px #FFD2E8;"></a></td></tr></table><div style="display:none;"><b>(&nbsp;<lj-cut text="">&nbsp;)</b></div>

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✿ The other day my debut album, <EM>Mind of Mine</EM> turned three years old. It's mental to me that it has already been three years, when I can recall the process of making it so well. It was a daunting thing, to put out a solo record after my departure from One Direction. I knew I had a lot to prove.. to not only my fans, but to myself. I had made this huge life decision and I had my moments of self doubt, when I would sit in the middle of the night, wondering was this right? What if I just threw my career out the window? It was hands down one of the most trying times in my life to date and I felt a new kind of pressure when I had gone into the studio. I loved song writing, I had been writing songs for years back in the band but, my style just didn't quite fit. I tried over and over and the label just kept saying no, as an artist I didn't feel like I was expressing myself the way I wanted.
<center><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_3d6GntKbk" title="pillowtalk."><img src="https://imgur.com/DEvBHa6.gif" style="width:80; height:80; background:#fff; padding: 5px 5px 5px 5px; box-shadow:1px 2px 2px #d8d8d8;"></a><img src="https://i.imgur.com/86JDZMo.png" style="width:80; height:80; background:#fff; padding: 5px 5px 5px 5px; box-shadow:1px 2px 2px #d8d8d8;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTaqcGz2O5o" title="like i would."><img src="https://imgur.com/iwHEZcC.gif" style="width:80; height:80; background:#fff; padding: 5px 5px 5px 5px; box-shadow:1px 2px 2px #d8d8d8;"></a></center>
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<center><img src="https://i.imgur.com/xWilVOo.jpg" style="width:80; height:80; background:#fff; padding: 5px 5px 5px 5px; box-shadow:1px 2px 2px #d8d8d8;"><a href="https://i.imgur.com/gL9AgEv.jpg" title="tracklist."><img src="https://i.imgur.com/gL9AgEv.jpg" style="width:80; height:80; background:#fff; padding: 5px 5px 5px 5px; box-shadow:1px 2px 2px #d8d8d8;"></a><img src="https://i.imgur.com/4TVSR1K.png" style="width:80; height:80; background:#fff; padding: 5px 5px 5px 5px; box-shadow:1px 2px 2px #d8d8d8;"></center>
✿ Did I hate the band? No, I didn't. I knew that I wouldn't have been where I was without it, and when I made this album that was very present in my mind. Most of the songs had been ones I'd written over time, a couple were more recently wrote. It was exciting to be in control, to be able to do and say what I wanted and take the record in the direction (no pun intended) that I wanted to go. The first taste of my music I had released came about a week after I left, a song called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2DXh37RL5M">I Won't Mind</a> and it's still a song that's very close and special to me. It seemed to be well received and a little over a year later, Mind of Mine came out.<br><center><font face="courier new" size="+1">mind of mine<br>25 march 2016</font></center>
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✿ This record will always mean a lot to me, not cos it's my first but cos it showed me that I <EM>can</EM> do this. I can write and create music and though it takes me some time - I'm a perfectionist - I was really, really happy with how this record came together. I had a lot of fun making videos for it, and seeing how my fans took to it meant a lot cos up until it's release, I was constantly thinking what would happen if my fans didn't like it, if I had proved to them that I made the wrong choice. Although it was a choice I knew I needed make, it's always scary to go out on your own for the first time. I hope this record is one people enjoy even ten years from now, that the songs make them happy and I'm glad that this was how I told the world that I'm Zayn. I owe this album a lot, and I couldn't be happier for where it has lead me. Happy third birthday, Mind of mine.
<center><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1seDBXvGYcc" title="it's you."><img src="https://imgur.com/XRzVNY6.gif" style="width:80; height:80; background:#fff; padding: 5px 5px 5px 5px; box-shadow:1px 2px 2px #d8d8d8;"></a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EaPxw5exts" title="befour."><img src="https://imgur.com/nTFwfJS.gif" style="width:80; height:80; background:#fff; padding: 5px 5px 5px 5px; box-shadow:1px 2px 2px #d8d8d8;"></a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nD1i99prOc" title="i don't want to live forever (acoustic)"><img src="https://imgur.com/XAP8kOV.gif" style="width:80; height:80; background:#fff; padding: 5px 5px 5px 5px; box-shadow:1px 2px 2px #d8d8d8;"></a></center>
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