Historically, interviews haven't been Zayn Malik's thing. The musician tends to stay as far out of the spotlight as possible, only doing press when he absolutely has to — which is why it was such a shock to find out that he was sitting down for an in-depth interview with Alex Cooper for her Call Her Daddy podcast, his first major interview in more than six years. Malik talked about everything, including some never-before-revealed tidbits about his final days with One Direction.
In the interview, Malik shared that he felt "overexposed" from his time in the massively popular band, which was in part why he took a step back from public appearances. He also chafed at the boyband stereotypes lobbed at him — think The Cute One, The Bad Boy, and the like.
"They just said, 'Oh yeah, you can be the mysterious one.' That wasn’t necessarily my personality, I’m just chill," he explained. "I know that a lot of people have high-energy personalities, and it’s just not the way I am."
Malik opened up about his decision to leave the band in 2015; at the time, he cited exhaustion and a desire to be a "normal 22-year-old," but there seemed to be more going on than he shared in that devastating statement nearly 10 years ago.
"I don't want to go into too much detail, but there was a lot of politics going on," he told Cooper on July 12. “Certain people were doing certain things, certain people didn't want to sign contracts, so I knew something was happening, so I just got ahead of the curve… I was like, ‘I'm just going to get out of here. I think this is done.'”
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Malik also admitted he had planned to make a solo album and it felt like the right time. “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 going to 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."
While Malik said he currently sees his 1D years in a "much fonder light," that wasn't the case at the time. “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," he explained of his relationships with his bandmates pre-split. “We'd done crazy things with each other that nobody else in the world will ever understand,” the musician shared. "There were great experiences, I had great times with them, but yeah, we'd just run our course."
The musician also shared that he kept his decision to leave the band fairly private — even his mom didn't know he was planning to leave. “I didn’t really care about what anybody else thought, that’s the type of person I am,” Malik said. “I tried to close those opinions off. I’m not really the type of person that defines myself on other people’s opinions.”
Since then, he's had a lot of time to reflect, take a break and figure out what really matters to him: Khai, his daughter with Gigi Hadid, his new music (his upcoming single titled “Love Like This” is set to arrive on July 21), and his fans. During the interview, Malik shared that he'll soon be back onstage for the first time in a few years. “They’re always just like, 'We’re here, we’ve got you,'" he said of his fans' support. “'We’re gonna come and listen to your tunes.' I’m super grateful. I feel that love for sure. I’m ready to prove these people right.”
You can stream Zayn's full Call Her Daddy episode for free on Spotify, or below:
