Zayn Malik gives his first major print interview since leaving One Direction as he covers the December 2015 issue of The Fader. Posing for the lens of photographer Francesco Nazardo, Malik rocks a dirty blond hairstyle with dark roots. Outfitted by stylists Jason Rembert and Caroline Watson, the singer rocks trendy looks that include a leather jacket and pants.
Talking to the magazine about leaving One Direction, Malik shares, “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.”
Recalling the day he left One Direction, Malik confesses, “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.”
Explaining the creative frustrations of being in One Direction, Malik offers, “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 would suggest something, it was like it didn’t fit us.”
Delving more into the creative aspect of the band, Malik says, “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.” Read more on TheFader.com.
