'Eyes Closed': Zayn Malik and Blackpink's Jisoo's cosmic confusion cruise

"Someone like me and someone like you shouldn't work" – or should they? 

Welp, it was bound to happen: Pakistan meets South Korea, or is it? Our very own – or maybe half? – Zayn Malik collaborated with Blackpink's Jisoo on a new track "Eyes Closed", released today.

The power of Pakistani fans meets the global K-pop fandom – the official music video already has over 5 million views!

On Wednesday, Zayn shared a picture of him and Jisoo on Instagram, with the post stating "JISOO X ZAYN. Digital Single '𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐃'". Spotify's official account remarked almost a day later: "We have our eyes wide open for this one!" Even Spotify knows the power of Jisoo stans and Zayn's diehard desi fans!

While Zayn kept it professional with an official announcement, Blackpink's Jisoo knew exactly how to grab attention. She amped up the relatability factor by sharing cute pics of her and Zayn goofing off like besties! The post garnered more than 2.1 million likes in just an hour. Artists, take notes! – or their PR teams, we suppose.

Screenshot of Jisoo's Instagram account

The music video: A cosmic journey of love and confusion
The MV opens with a spaceship straight out of 1960s science fiction, with Jisoo emerging from a cryopod, crooning about how "time is standing still".

Zayn, equally lovelorn, responds that he knows "what you're feeling and I know you wanna say it", while nestled in his own cryopod.

The video then pauses over their interstellar personnel identification cards:

Jennifer Lawrence’s Passengers vibes, anyone?

Decked out in all black – that jacket is magic, we tell ya! – Zayn reassures his beloved that he feels the same, but "we gotta be patient".

Floating like a space-age Romeo, Zayn turns zero-gravity into a metaphorical love dance. Tilted precariously in his chair, he's the poster child for cosmic recklessness – defying gravity while crooning about falling in love with eyes closed. Who needs watching where you're going when you can drift romantically through the universe, one anti-gravity chair-tilt at a time?

It's part love song, part physics-defying performance art – a zero-gravity trust fall into romance?

Visual oddities and lyrical musings
The duo unite in an endless white hallway with a red carpet, declaring "ain't nobody perfect but it's all good".

Weird mercury-like liquid mechanisms float inexplicably in between shots of the duo – because why not?

"The past can't hurt us if we don't look, let's let it go," they sing, with Jisoo standing eerily still in a black sleeveless dress, reminiscent of the twins in Kubrick's The Shining. The camera pans out with a 360-degree flip that would make a cinematographer dizzy.

Very next moment, Jisoo is sure to inform us how she has “got tunnel vision every second”. It might be about love but hey, if it fits!
A hovering robot follows her every move. Veiled threat? Media metaphor? Your guess is as good as ours.

The two could also be seen circling each other like cosmic kindergarteners playing an intergalactic version of "Ring Around the Rosie". Who says you're too old for childhood games? Not them! as they sing simultaneously about "the names and faces of who we were with" – part nostalgic waltz, part space ballet?

The Saturn surprise and final thoughts
Just when you were getting immersed in the futuristic setting, Jisoo appears with a smartphone, cradled by impossibly long, spiky nails – peak 2020s fashion and tech, ladies and gentlemen!

The climax? They pass Saturn! Yes, with all this advanced interstellar transportation, they end up at Saturn. Because why not?

A glimpse of four other passengers suggests this might be an exclusive elite space party. Technology advances, but human nature? Stubborn as ever.

The MV ends before revealing the final destination, but hey – they crossed Saturn!

Why this ringed planet? Your guess is as good as ours – probably somewhere between "random cosmic dartboard" and "we thought it looked cool". The video's theme matches the lyrics about as well as a penguin matches a desert landscape — and about as well as Zayn and Jisoo's on-screen chemistry.

Chemistry or lack thereof
They share less screen time than a celebrity's attention span – a grand total of 30 seconds! It's the musical equivalent of a long-distance relationship where both parties forgot to turn on their video call.

Compare this to the electric collaboration between Bruno Mars and Blackpink's Lisa in "APT". While the "Eyes Closed" MV is racking up impressive numbers, will it reach the heights of "APT"? We aren't so sure!

The existential question
So what are we left with? A music video that's part sci-fi fever dream, part love ballad, and entirely a testament to the beautiful chaos of cross-cultural collaboration. Zayn and Jisoo have created something that defies easy categorization – is it a love song? A space odyssey? A commentary on modern relationships?

Perhaps the most profound moment comes when they sing, "Really shouldn't work, yeah, the history is proof" – a line that could apply just as much to their musical collaboration as to the relationship in the song.

The video leaves us with more questions than answers:
1.    Why Saturn?
2.    What's with the hovering robot?
3.    How many passengers are actually on this spaceship?
4.    Is this a love story or a sci-fi narrative?

Only Zayn and Jisoo know for sure – and they're keeping their Eyes Closed.