Zayn Malik News: 'One Direction Prevented Me To Be Me,' Says Malik
Restrictions that stopped him from being who he really is drove Zayn Malik to depart from his former boy band, One Direction. The 23-year old singer, who now sports a bad boy image, said the prohibitions prevented him from showing the public what the real Zayn Malik behind his public persona.
"There were certain restrictions in terms of the way that we could come outside of that young teen boy look. Mainly my beard, honestly. I wasn't allowed to keep it. Eventually, when I got older, I rebelled against it, and decided to keep it anyway. That was just because I looked older than the rest of them… I also wanted to dye my hair when I was in the band, but I wasn't allowed to," Malik disclosed in his recent interview with Complex magazine.
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For Malik, the restrictions imposed on him were tantamount to denying him of who he really is and the very core of why he wants to be in the music industry.
"That was always there. It was one of the things that wasn't going to go away, so I had to go away," he added.
As if it were only yesterday when Malik shocked the world with an announcement that he was leaving the globally successful band that gave him the piece of stardom that he is enjoying today. While there were mixed sentiments, Malik proved that leaving the band to be on his own was a right decision as he has already scored four hit singles, including "Pillow Talk," which is a part of his first solo album, "Mind of Mine," scheduled for a release this March 25.
As of this writing, the "Pillow Talk" music video has garnered more than 250 million views on YouTube.
Apparently, "Pillow Talk" did not only pave the way for Malik's solo stardom; it also got him and supermodel Gigi Hadid into playing sweet music together after getting intimate during the shoot for the single's music video. According to him, the shoot didn't require much rehearsal as they were simply having fun and horsing around.
Now that Malik and Hadid are in a relationship, Malik, who was once dubbed as "The Quiet One" during his One Direction days, tries his very best to keep things about him and Hadid private.
"… But there's only so much you can do. I'm learning to deal with it," he admitted.
