The English heartthrob, who released his debut solo single 'Pillowtalk' in January 2016, opens up about his decision to leave the boy band when appearing on the 'Call Her Daddy' podcast.
- Jul 13, 2023
AceShowbiz - Zayn Malik partially quit One Direction because he "selfishly" wanted to be the first member to release a solo record. The "Dusk Till Dawn" singer, who is making his solo comeback this summer, has confessed that he wanted to be the first to release his own music because he's extremely "serious and competitive" when it comes to music and business.
The 30-year-old made the confession on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast. "I completely, selfishly wanted to be the first person to go and make my own record, if I'm being completely honest with you. I was like, 'I'm gonna jump the gun here for the first time.' I'm a passive dude, but when it comes to my music and my business, I'm serious about it and I'm competitive. So I wanted to be the first to go and do my own thing," he shared.
Zayn released his debut solo single "Pillowtalk" in January 2016, after leaving the "What Makes You Beautiful" boy band in March 2015. It debuted at number one on the U.K. Singles Chart and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, making the star the first British artist to debut at number one in the U.S. with a debut single.
Looking back fondly on his time in the group, Zayn saw it being both "fun and a rush". He said, "Now I look back at it like it was a rush, you know? It was fun and it was something that was amazing, so of course I wasn't going to understand it. It's not something I expected in my life, but it was definitely fun for sure."
Harry Styles, 29, is the most successful member of One Direction, with the most solo top 10s in the U.K. The group was also comprised of Louis Tomlinson, 31, Liam Payne and Niall Horan, both 29.
Elsewhere in the interview, Zayn admitted that he and his One Direction bandmates were dealing with "underlying issues" and ultimately "got sick of each other". He explained, "I think we just got thrown into the deep end and we kind of just have to swim, and I feel like we did a good job in terms of like, you know, the keeping it together and making the music that we were meant to make."
Remaining cryptic, the ex-boyfriend of Gigi Hadid continued, "There was a lot of ... look I don't want to go into too much detail, but there was a lot of politics going on." He elaborated further, "So people were doing certain things, so people didn't want to sign contracts, so I knew something was happening."
Zayn insisted that living in each other's pockets "every day for five years" didn't help. He noted, "And then there was obviously underlying issues, like within our friendships too. We've been together every day for five years and we've got sick of each other for being completely honest. So we were close."
