Now, when Zayn Malik left One Direction so he could live life like a ‘normal 22-year-old’ we didn't expect him back in the studio very soon after. But within a day of his departure, he was spotted by paparazzi going into a west London studio, where he is thought to be recording new music. That is what people do in these places, after all.
But what could this new music sound like? We took a look at the first post-quit interview he did with The Sun to glean some clues:
‘It is crazy and wild and a bit mad’
This is about the furore surrounding Zayn’s departure, but could it also hint at some spooky new wave pop? We could *so *imagine his high-pitched voice soaring over yet another cover of Mad World, originally a Tears For Fears song which catapulted to number one by Gary Jules when he made it all sad and wistful:
‘I did try to do something that I wasn’t happy doing for a while, for the sake of maybe other people’s happiness. And that was mainly for the fans. I only ever tried to do it for the fans’
Coming from a man worth £15 million, this reminds us a lot of Sam Smith’s Money On My Mind. Especially the chorus, which, if you need reminding, goes: ‘I don’t have money on my mind/I do it for the love’. Zayn could so manage a soulful direction, have you seen the glint in his eyes when he croons?
**‘It’s not that I’ve turned my back on [the fans] or anything, it’s just that I just can’t do that any more because it’s not real to me’ **
Now, while a lot of people might compare Zayn’s departure to that of Robbie Williams leaving Take That, there’s another boybander who said these exact same words! Bryan McFadden, after leaving Westlife, said ‘that’s not real to me’ of his old boyband life. And he said it with such conviction he put it in a song.
He also extolled the virtues of being a dad, saying that ‘when I see my babies run… that’s what’s real to me’ and felt so strongly about it that within a few months he’d moved away from his kids to Australia to live with his new girlfriend Delta Goodrem.
Luckily, as far as we know, Zayn’s not a dad, so this sort of hypocrisy might not befall him. And, we figure it’s lucky that Zayn’s going in a hip hop direction, recording with the likes of Naughty Boy, and not this, because, well… it doesn’t seem very ‘real’ to us.
‘I think they’re going to be cool’
Zayn said of the rest of the boys. Explaining that there aren’t any ‘contingencies’ in the group and ‘it was always just everyone doing what we were doing’. Now, he hasn’t directly quoted One Direction here, but it does sound a lot like: ‘Yeah, we'll keep doing what we do. Just pretending that we’re cool’ in 1D’s Live While We’re Young.
Wouldn’t it be marvellous if his music turned out to be exactly like One Direction’s? In the same way some of Geri Halliwell’s songs after leaving the Spice Girls really could have been actual Spice Girls songs?
‘She’s always supportive. She’s always good, man.’
He said of his fiancée Perrie, who some fans are now comparing to Yoko Ono (see, Zayn only left after it was alleged that he’d cheated on Perrie with a girl in Thailand he was photographed with his arm around).
Is she a good girl? Because, well, we’re sorry to say it, only one girl, with the repeated refrain of ‘I’ve always wanted a good girl’ comes to mind. One, um, Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke. And honestly, lyrics and creepiness aside, working with Pharrell on an immensely catchy pop-funk song could be a great route for Zayn; he’s had the Bruno Mars quiff already, too!
Oh, and if you’re not satisfied with any of the above, remember that Zayn’s got an influence in rock-rapper Kid Rock. In a video where Zayn is with bandmate Louis Tomlinson, smoking a roll-up in the back of a van while in Peru on tour, he complains about the annuals his band have been putting out, talking instead about another great book he’s seen: ‘Kid Rock’s last book. And it’s about twice the size. Hard back. Black. Simple writing. No bulls***. No like ‘My favourite colour’s blue.. And all just sick pictures.’
So maybe we can expect something like this?
Fingers crossed Zayn takes the right direction, eh?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.