Alienated (song)

According to Zayn, via X, "'Alienated' was the first song I wrote for the album, so it kind of set the tone for the whole project - it shaped the way I wanted to approach the sound of my own voice, the styling of the guitars and the overall sonic direction."^[2] He revealed on social media that he wrote the song six years ago.^[3] The idea first came up while Zayn was living in Philadelphia when he "wanted to write something that was a little bit more elevated, and a little bit more insightful than the music that I'd been putting out at that point."^[1] He also stated that it was his favourite off the album as it "comes from a place of sheer honesty and vulnerability."^[4]

"Alienated" was written by Zayn and produced it with Dave Cobb.^[5] The track strays away from Zayn's early R&B sound and focuses on a more soulful sound inspired by artists such as Chris Stapleton and Willie Nelson.^[1] Speaking about the sound, he stated "you can't really put them in a genre," as he noted that the song was "influenced by other music." He described it as his version of blues.^[6]

On 12 April 2024, Zayn uploaded a live performance video of the song onto his YouTube channel, which marks his first live performance since 2016.^[7]