Wasn't convinced with what One Direction was selling: Zayn Malik

The singer claims he quit because he was sick of the ‘generic’ music the band was making

Zayn Malik made headlines in March when he decided to quit popular boy band One Direction to focus on his solo music career.

The 22-year-old singer had initially said he wanted to live his life "normally". But according to a report published in The Independent, the real reason why he quit was because there was "no room for creativity."



“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,” The Independent quoted him as saying. “Then, by the time I decided to go, it just felt right on that day.”

Zayn said that working in a band is not easy and there came a time when the bandmates were forced to be happy with their work when they actually were not.

One Direction before Zayn quit. PHOTO: VOX.COM

“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 and generic," he added.

"I just wasn’t convinced with what we were selling. I wasn’t 100 per cent 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’. We were told to be happy about something that we weren’t happy about,” Zayn said.



The popular singer now has a solo contract with RCA Records. “I’m working every day now but I’m working on music that I enjoy,” he said.

Zayn in his first solo video, Befour. PHOTO: SCREENGRAB

“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 want to make music that I think is cool s**t. I don’t think that’s too much to ask for.”



He also hinted that there might be a musical collaboration in future with ex-band mate Liam Payne, the only one from the band who Zayn is in touch with since he quit.

Zayn and Liam. PHOTO: REBLOGGY.COM

Current One Direction members -- Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson -- have also agreed to taking a hiatus next year.

The band is soaring high on the success of their fourth album, Made in the AM, that was released last Friday.