Zayn Malik Just Laid Out Every Reason He Left 1D

When Zayn Malik left One Direction, the fans cried and wondered why he would leave his duties singing in the biggest boy band in the world. There was speculation, and a pretty surface explanation that he wanted to pursue other projects.

Well Zayn has just opened the floodgates in a new interview with Fader and didn’t hold back on the real reason he left his four friends and the white hot spotlight behind.

“I wasn’t 100 percent behind the music,” he admits. “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.”

Aside from not being on-board with the molded sound he was forced to go along with, all of his own creative ideas and suggestions were squashed the moment they came out of his mouth.

“There was never any room for me to experiment creatively in the band,” he says. “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 would suggest something, it was like it didn’t fit us.”

In the seven months since leaving 1D, Zayn has gotten comfortable working on his solo career and isn’t shy to admit that One Direction music is nothing he’d ever listen to at a party.

“That’s not music that I would listen to. Would you listen to One Direction, sat at a party with your girl? I wouldn’t. To me, that’s not an insult, that’s me as a 22-year-old man. As much as I was in that band, and I loved everything that we did, that’s not music that I would listen to. I don’t think that’s an offensive statement to make. That’s just not who I am. If I was sat at a dinner date with a girl, I would play some cool shit, you know what I mean? I want to make music that I think is cool shit. I don’t think that’s too much to ask for.”

Gotta give credit to Zayn for being so honest and listening to his heart. For the full interview, head over to Fader now and read it HERE.