Finally, Zayn Malik has done an in-depth interview, answering all those burning questions fans have been dying to know the answers to, and gracing the front cover of Fader magazine while drinking what looks like a big glass of orange/carrot juice. It’s about time he did that.
Putting a lot of rumours to bed, Zayn had a chat about why he left the band, Perrie Edwards and his general struggles. Here’s what we learned:
He didn’t break up with Perrie Edwards by text
‘If you could word it exactly this way, I’d be very appreciative. I have more respect for Perrie than to end anything over text message. I love her a lot, and I always will, and I would never end our relationship of over four years like that. She knows that, I know that, and the public should know that as well. I don’t want to explain why I did what I did, I just want the public to know I didn’t do that.’
He wanted to quit the band the band for a while
‘I guess I just wanted to go home from the beginning. I was always thinking it. I just didn’t know when I was going to do it. Then by the time I decided to go, it just felt right on that day. I woke up on that morning, if I’m being completely honest with you, and was like, “I need to go home. I just need to be me now because I’ve had enough.” I was with my little cousin at the time – we were sitting in the hotel room – and I was just, “Should I go home?” And he was like, “If you want to go home, let’s go home.” So we left.’
Larry isn’t a thing
‘They won’t naturally go put their arm around each other because they’re conscious of this thing that’s going on, which is not even true. They won’t do that natural behaviour. But it’s just the way the fans are. They’re so passionate, and once they get their head around an idea, that’s the way it is, regardless of anything. If it wasn’t for that passionate, like, almost obsession, then we wouldn’t have the success that we had.’
He didn’t have creative freedom
‘There was never any room for me to experiment creatively in the band. If I would sing a hook or a verse slightly R&B, or slightly myself, it would always be recorded 50 times until there was a straight version that was pop, generic as fuck, so they could use that version.
‘Whenever I’d suggest something, it was like it didn’t fit us. There was just a general conception that the management already had of what they want for the band, and I just wasn’t convinced with what we were selling. I wasn’t 100% behind the music. It wasn’t me. It was music that was already given to us, and we were told this is what’s going to sell to these people. As much as we were the biggest, most famous boy band in the world, it felt weird. We were told to be happy about something that we weren’t happy about.’
Liam Payne might be going solo
‘[Liam and I] spoke about two weeks ago. It was the first time I’d spoken to him since I left the band. I rang him, and he wanted to talk. He said he didn’t understand it at the time, but he now fully gets why I had to do what I did. He understands that it’s my thing, that I had to do that, and that basically he wants to meet up and have a good chat in person. And he wants to do some music and work on some stuff aside from being in the band, which we always wanted to do anyway.’
It’s good that he cleared up a few of these rumours, and we’re pretty glad about the Perrie Edwards thing – in our hearts we knew he didn’t break up with her by text. OK, actually we didn’t, but now we do. Thanks, Zayn. Enjoy the rest of that orange/carrot juice.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.