After his latest hibernation phase, Zayn Malik is officially back. Ahead of the release of his comeback single “Love Like This” out July 21, the sultry singer sat down with Call Her Daddy‘s Alex Cooper to talk fatherhood, his time in the One Direction, how he’s “been in writing mode” working on his new album, and more.
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After speaking about suburban Pennsylvania living, their love for WaWa, being selective with social activities, and a bit more, Zayn discussed his 1D days and addressed his decision to leave the band.
“Look, I don’t want to go into too much detail, but 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.”
He continued, “There was obviously underlying issues, 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.”
“We were close… we’d done crazy things with each other that nobody else in the world will ever understand and I look back on it now in a much fonder light,” Malik added. “There were great experiences, I had great times with them, but we’d just run our course.”
Malik even admitted (maybe for the first time) that he didn’t even tell his own mother about his plans to leave the band, only calling to tell her he was coming home and asked if his old bed was still available. “I didn’t really care about what anybody else thought; that’s the type of person I am,” he explained. “I tried to close those opinions off. I’m not really the type of person that defines myself on other people’s opinions.”
Aside from a couple surges into the spotlight, with the release of his track “PILLOWTALK,” and the 50 Shades Darker soundtrack Taylor Swift collab “I Don’t Want to Live Forever,” since leaving One Direction, Zayn has released three albums, but unlike some former bandmates, for the most part has remained pretty low key. For the shy kid from Bradford that was thrust into super stardom at the age of 17, it makes complete and total sense.
“I feel like we were so overexposed in the band that that’s why I took the time that I have to not even necessarily do interviews,” Zayn said. Revealing he chose this moment to return to the limelight in a more open way.
Zayn also briefly talked about some public drama regarding his baby mama’s mama Yolanda Hadid. And while he didn’t directly speak about the recently dredged up conflict with Liam Payne, he did open up about his issues with anxiety and how he's “still nervous” to perform on his own. For those who don’t know — since leaving One Direction, he has not toured and only performed live three times in 2016.
“I’m still nervous now cause it’s been a few years [since] I’ve been on stage, but I have this energy too. I feel like I have something to give and I want to get on stage and be there again and feel that,” he said. “That’s one thing I can say, my fan base has always been supportive in that manner.”
“They’re always just like, we’re here, we’ve got you. Like, when you’re ready, we’ve got you,” he added. “We’re gonna come and listen to your tunes. I gotta be super, super thankful for that, and I’m super grateful. I feel that love for sure. I’m ready to prove these people right.”
Speaking of music, Zayn revealed he’s been working on a new record that will have a different sound from his previous projects. “It’s got some more narrative going on, like real-life experiences and stuff. My daughter’s mentioned in there a couple of times.”
Check out a teaser clip of the now available episode below.
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