Zayn Malik Opens up About Leaving One Direction
Zayn Malik has opened up about leaving One Direction and the band’s eventual hiatus in his first interview in nearly six years. The singer joined the boyband during the 7th series of X-factor and was a part of the line-up until his departure was announced in 2015.
In a recent episode of the Spotify podcast, ’Call Her Daddy’ Malik discussed his time with the band and admitted that songwriting together was challenging. “There used to be five of us in the room when we would write, it was so hard for us all to have the same viewpoint to talk about the same thing,” he said.
Of his decision to leave the band after five years together, he said he didn’t want to “go into too much detail”, but said there “was a lot of politics going on, certain people were doing certain things, certain people didn’t want to sign contracts, so I knew something was happening”.
“There were obviously underlying issues,” he continued. “Like within our friendships, too. We’ve been together every day for five years, and we got sick of each other, if I’m being completely honest. So we were close.” However Zayn revealed that in this phase of his life, he recalls the experiences with the band in a much fonder light.
Malik also shared that how being a part of the band, changed his life. “We started to get a fanbase and an audience and you could see that people were paying an interest in us,” he said. “From that point on, it was kind of a bit crazy.”
The singer is preparing to make his return to music. He released his solo album ‘Nobody Is Listening’, 2 years ago. Recently, it has been confirmed that he has entered into a new record deal with Mercury Records. His debut single for the label, titled ‘Love Like This’, is scheduled to be released on 21st July.
Last year, the vocalist commemorated the 80th birthday of guitar legend Jimi Hendrix by sharing a rendition of his song ‘Angel’.
–Kaushiki Sarcar
