Fans’ wildest dreams have come true with ZAYN and Taylor Swift’s surprise powerhouse single “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever,” which features on the soundtrack for the upcoming film “Fifty Shades Darker.” The duo, best known in the past for dating each other’s friends, collaborated to deliver a song that perfectly encapsulates the movie for which it was written — a balance of sexy, romantic, funny and fun.
“I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” is clearly cut from the same cloth as ZAYN’s debut album, “Mind of Mine,” giving him an advantage over Swift in selling the song’s message. Like that album, the single oscillates from casually to dramatically sensual, and in the “Fifty Shades” universe, ZAYN is a natural fit. His vocals also feature an impressive range that includes an extended falsetto in the song’s refrain.
Swift, however, can’t compete with ZAYN in conveying the sensual tone demanded by the song. While she remains as strong a singer as she proved on “1989,” her country-pop voice is hard to mask, and her breathy sighs come across more like hisses rather than anything plausibly sultry.
Swift gains ground on ZAYN in her delivery of the song’s best lyrics. She captures her career-defining romantic wistfulness in lines like “I’m sitting eyes wide open and I’ve got one thing stuck in my mind / wondering if I dodged a bullet or just lost the love of my life.”
ZAYN and Swift are some of pop’s biggest stars for a reason. There is no substantial flaw in “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” and nothing dispels the song’s catchiness, sexiness and sick beat (Swift’s patent pending). As a cornerstone single from the soundtrack of “Fifty Shades Darker,” which premieres Feb. 10, “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” is the perfect Christmas gift that keeps Valentine’s Day in mind.
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