Zayn Malik just gave his first interview in six years, sitting down with Alex Cooper of Call Her Daddy to chat about a wide range of topics—including why he left One Direction.
“Look, I don’t want to go into too much detail, but there was a lot of politics going on, certain people were doing certain things, certain people didn’t want to sign contracts, so I knew something was happening,” he explained, via Rolling Stone. “There was obviously underlying issues, like within our friendships too. We’ve been together every day for five years, and we got sick of each other, if I’m being completely honest. So we were close.”
Today, Zayn is able to look back on his time in One Direction in “much fonder light.” He also wants to start performing onstage again—something he’s nervous about.
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“I’m still nervous now ’cause it’s been a few years [since] I’ve been onstage, but I have this energy too. I feel like I have something to give and I want to get onstage and be there again and feel that,” he explained. “That’s one thing I can say, my fan base has always been supportive in that manner… They’re always just like, we’re here, we’ve got you. Like, when you’re ready, we’ve got you. We’re gonna come and listen to your tunes. I gotta be super, super thankful for that and I’m super grateful. I feel that love for sure. I’m ready to prove these people right.”
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This article originally appeared on Cosmopolitan.com. Minor edits have been made by the Cosmo.ph editors.
