More about: Zayn Malik
The singer explained his decision to leave the band in a revealing new interview
Zayn Malik has opened up about his decision to leave his "generic as fuck" former band One Direction in a new interview, before discussing his new solo album, love of tattoos and the musical influences of his mother and father. He also revealed a snippet of a new song, which you can listen to below.
Malik quit his job as one fifth of the biggest boyband in the world back in March - but, he revealed in an interview with The Fader, he'd been gearing up to leave since the band formed on The X Factor in 2010.
"I was always thinking it," he explained. "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 sat 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."
Listen to a snippet of Malik's new song, 'Befour', below
Elaborating on his unhappiness with the band's music, he explained, "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."
He continued, "Whenever I would 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 percent behind the music. It wasn’t me.
"It was music that was already given to us, and we were told this is what is 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."
Malik signed as a solo artist to RCA in July. His currently untitled debut solo album is due for release in early 2016.
George Harrison: In any other band he would have been the frontman, but in The Beatles he could only ever live in the shadow of Paul McCartney and John Lennon. His true genius only got the credit it deserved when he went solo, giving the world nuggets of pure aceness with classics like 'My Sweet Lord', 'Give Me Love', 'All Those Years Ago' and your dad's wedding anthem 'I Got My Mind Set On You'
Albert Hammond Jr: The Strokes guitarist does indeed have a life and career outside of the garage-rock icons - and it's brilliant. His two solo albums and 2013's EP AHJ contain tracks of such class, they could rival The Strokes' greatest hits.
Jonny Greenwood: Guitar hero and owner of the best fringe in music, Mr Greenwood there. Away from Radiohead he's an award-winning soundtrack composer, writing incredible scores to movies such as There Will Be Blood, Norweigan Wood and We Need To Talk About Kevin.
Nicky Wire: The acid-tongued bassist and lyricist of the Manics attempted a solo career in 2006. With his Marmite vocals and heavily political approach, I Killed The Zeitgeist was never going to be a best-seller - but it was simply Wire at his mouthy and romantic best.
Graham Coxon: Much more than the speccy bloke off of Blur, Mr Coxon has proven more prolific as a solo artist - releasing eight critically-acclaimed punky albums under his own name.
Melissa Auf Der Maur: After spending five years in Hole and some time touring with Smashing Pumpkins', grunge's underdog waiting in the wings finally went solo in 2004. Her self-titled debut was universally adored while 2011's Out Of Our Minds split opinion, but music is a much richer place for having her alone.
Tom Morello: Away from shredding as axemaster with Rage Against The Machine, Morello has shown his more tender side as folk artist The Nightwatchman. He's also planning a rock solo album under his own name once he's finished touring with Bruce Springsteen. His life sounds alright, doesn't it?
Richard Hawley: After stalking the shadows of Britpop with The Longpigs before joining Pulp, the Don of the Don and Sheffield hero Richard Hawley finally found success as a Mercury-nominated solo artist, inspiring the likes of Elbow and Arctic Monkeys. And to think, he once auditioned to be Morissey's guitarist. That would have been daft.
St Vincent: And to think, Annie Clarke used to be one of the many, many, many people in the Polyphonic Spree.
Andy Burrows: With a heart as big as Johnny Borrell's ego, the former Razorlight drummer parted ways with the scratchy indie terrorists in 2009 to set his sights on recording life-affirming acoustic pop. He's released two solo albums, released an LP with Editors' Tom Smith and soundtracked The Snowman and Snowdog. He's doing pretty alright for himself, which is much more than can be said for Borrell.
Peter Buck: The air-line bothering, yoghurt-spilling, guitar icon released his self-titled solo album in 2012 following the demise of REM. He's still got one hell of a knack for stadium-sized alt-rock.
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More about: Zayn Malik
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