Zayn's Uncensored Thoughts on One Direction's Music: Here's Everything He Said Post-Breakup
Music unites, right? But this statement only works if the project isn't commercial.
One Direction, the most famous and successful boy band of the 2010s, was raking in huge profits after selling out almost every concert.
Rising to fame through their participation on The X-Factor, the five 1D singers have achieved colossal success, with millions of fans dreaming to see them live.
Though its fame has not yet died down, the band has been on an extended hiatus since 2015, and the 1D alums are currently pursuing their solo careers. Zayn Malik has been the most successful of the five, and he was also the first singer to leave One Direction. After the band's 'breakup,' Zayn has been quite vocal about his reasons to quit:
'I was frustrated with the band. It was about denying the authenticity of who I was, and what I enjoyed about music, and why I got into it,' Zayn said.
After Zayn left the boy band, his solo career took off immediately. Instead of pop music, he started performing R&B songs, which proved to be very popular with fans. Now his hits are topping the American and British charts, and he has also managed to collaborate with major pop stars like Taylor Swift and Sia.
Zayn Malik's success is living proof of how much One Direction constrained its participants creatively. In 2015, the singer spoke very unflatteringly about the band's producers, who wouldn't give the 1D members an opportunity to show their talent, forcing them to sing generically, as expected from pop singers:
'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 f---, so they could use that version,' Zayn explained.
In another interview, Malik once again stressed out the lack of creative development which ultimately led the singer to leave the project.
'I instantly realized it wasn't for me because I realized I couldn't put any input in,' he shared. According to the singer, the One Direction sound did not suit his taste at all, and the situation wasn't improving over the years.
However, eight years into his independent career, Zayn seems to have toned down his negative comments about the band. Last year, the singer posted a video of himself singing lines from the 1D song 'Night Changes' on his Instagram, prompting fans to hope that a One Direction reunion wasn't impossible after all.