Zayn Malik Breaks His Silence On One Direction, Muslim Identity, & His New Album
Entertainment Nov 20, 2015
Six months after his departure from One Direction, Zayn Malik is speaking out about the pressures of stardom, the rise of fan-fiction, and even his identity as a Muslim in a new interview in The Fader.
The sprawling interview with Malik took place at his North London home where he's splurged on creating a cocoon-like home complete with a shed that doubles as a pub, an archery area, dirt bikes and go-karts and a room devoted to his street art. It's apparent that Malik is feeling much freer to indulge all of his whims and art without being straitjacketed by his One Direction days.
Photo Credit: The Fader
Amidst cheating allegations and substance abuse rumours, Malik left the band in March with the reason of being a, "normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight.” Since then, Malik has broken up with his girlfriend Perrie Edwards from Little Mix and has the habit of getting into snappy Twitter beefs with Naughty Boy and former bandmate Louis Tomlinson.
Photo Credit: Buzzfeed
It's been a difficult journey for Malik, who uses the opportunity to get brutally honest about his time in the band, where he felt stifled creatively and in the coldest way that he'd never have listened to 1D music in the first place. Adding that, "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.”
It's interesting that Malik chose The Fader for his big debut, because the magazine has featured rap and R&B artists like Rihanna, Drake, and Nicki Minaj on its previous covers, which seems to align with Malik's musical tastes. It's these influences that were restrained when he was 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 … I just wasn’t convinced with what we were selling. I wasn’t 100% behind the music. It wasn’t me. It was music that was already given to us."
Photo Credit: The Fader
Malik also touches on the idea of being the first Muslim and South Asian pop star that we've seen in a while, but he's reluctant to be a huge spokesperson on issues like Islamophobia or political issues because of the online backlash that he's faced before. “It’s not even the harassment,” he said. “I just don’t want to be influential in that sense.”
However, he's quick to acknowledge his postion as a "first" for many of his diverse fans. But it's that pressure of feeling like a representative for his religion and his community by being the first brown guy making music in the public eye. It's an unenviable position to navigate, but it seems he's got a good head on his shoulders.
"I’m just a normal person as well as following my religion, and doing all the normal things that everybody else does. I love music and I get tattoos and I make mistakes, and I’ve had to go through relationships and break up relationships. I feel proud that people actually look to me and can see themselves in that."
Photo Credit: www.cosmopolitan.com
That desire for normality is something that Malik is reaching for after his years in One Direction, and that means including all the influences for his new album that'll be coming out in 2016, and might include some "Bollywood-inspired" sounds that he's grown up with due to his Pakistani father's records. He's been working with James 'Malay' Ho who's a close collaborator with Frank Ocean, so we're beyond excited for what's coming up.
From this interview, it seems Malik is going with the Justin Timberlake trajectory of an artist going from generic pop to something all together unique and personal.
“To me, it’s like I stood in front of a canvas for about five years, and someone said like, ‘You’re not allowed to paint on this canvas.’ I’ve got the paint, I’ve got the fucking brushes, and I can’t get it on there. Now someone removed the plastic and was like, ‘Alright, you can now paint.’”
Main Image Photo Credit: www.fader.com
Rumnique Nannar
Author
Rumnique Nannar is a new journalist with a passion for all things pop culture, film, and art. Rumnique was born in London, with a predilection for devouring English chocolate with her Vogue, ANOKHI, and Glamour magazines in tow. She is currently in her Journalism Masters at UBC. Connect ...
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