1 of 2 | Zayn Malik, seen here at a performance with his former band One Direction on NBC's Today, opened up about his decision to leave the group and what to expect on his upcoming solo album. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI |
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BRADFORD, England, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Zayn Malik has opened up about the day he decided to quit One Direction and what to expect on his upcoming solo album.
"I guess I just wanted to go home from the beginning," he told The Fader about his sudden departure from the boy band. "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. 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."
Recently, Entertainment Tonight sat down with One Direction members Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson to discuss Malik's departure from the group. "I think in any field of work when you lose someone on your team, obviously it's hard, but the positive take on the situation is we felt we definitely got closer as a group," Tomlinson said.
On Sunday, One Direction's manager and creator Simon Cowell discussed how he knew eventually Malik would want to leave the band. "I knew Zayn was going before it happened," Cowell told Event magazine. "He was unhappy. My concern was actually for the boys. Zayn wasn't in a great place but it was his decision to leave, he wasn't kicked out. He wanted to distance himself. My responsibility was to the boys because they had no warning."
Malik has now begun work on his first solo album which is expected to be released in early 2016. The pop star previewed a new song from the project entitled "Befour" in a video for The Fader in which Malik is seen riding a motorcycle and smoking while he discusses the inspiration behind his new music.
"I don't feel like people really know what I'm going to give them, musically," Malik told the magazine. "And once they hear it, I feel like they will understand me a little bit more, and they'll understand why I did what I did, and why I left the band, and why I had to write this [expletive] down. Because for five - not even for five years, for 10 years, this album has been in my brain, and it's just been there, sat with me, needing to be out."
