Singer Zayn Malik has confirmed his fifth studio album Konnakol is set for release on April 17 via Mercury Records. The former One Direction member also announced that the lead single from the album, Die For Me, will drop on February 6.

“It’s that time again, I have been lucky enough to make a fifth studio album,” Malik wrote on social media.

During his recent run of shows at Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas, he previewed new material from the album, as per Rolling Stone.

The album title draws from Indian Carnatic music, where Konnakol refers to vocal percussion techniques that imitate drum rhythms.

“KONNAKOL in its definition is the act of creating percussive sounds with one’s voice but what it means to me lies somewhere much deeper. It is a sound that holds the reverberation of a time before words existed,” Zayn said in a statement.

“I have always drawn on my heritage for inspiration since I first started making my own music, this album is a development of that understanding, knowing more now than ever, who I am, where I come from and where I intend to go,” he added.

Konnakol follows Malik’s 2024 release Room Under the Stairs, an acoustic-driven album created with producer Dave Cobb that focused heavily on lyrical storytelling. With the new project, the 33-year-old musician returns to R&B pop.

This is not the first time that Zayn showcased his Indian roots in his work. His debut solo album Mind of Mine, which marks its 10th anniversary in March, featured an Urdu-language interlude.

During his Las Vegas performances, he teased this theme with visuals of a snow leopard, a South Asian symbol of freedom and strength, and opened the set with an unreleased track. The shows featured a mix of new songs alongside material from Mind of Mine, Icarus Falls, Nobody Is Listening, and Room Under the Stairs, as per Rolling Stone.