If you’re in a wildly successful boy band, you’re far from normal. Keeping up appearances and maintaining a good guy image, all while trying to produce chart-topping singles, can be stressful, to say the least. We assume there comes a time when you have to take a step back and wonder if this is really something worth pursuing for the rest of your life. That’s what happened to former One Direction member, Zayn Malik. It seems the high-pressure 1D life drove Zayn a little bit crazy, especially when it came to the things he was not allowed to do.
“There were certain restrictions in terms of the way that we could come outside that young teen boy look.”
Well, we kind of get that, but did you know that Zayn wasn’t even allowed to grow a beard at one point? “That was just because I looked older than the rest of them. That’s one of the things that is now quite cool. I get to keep my beard. I also wanted to dye my hair when I was in the band, but I wasn’t allowed to.”
Now that the English singer-songwriter is no longer tied down by anyone or anything, he’s happy just being Zayn: “With the music that I’m doing now, I get to express myself, and that creative tension is gone.”
Since his split from One Direction in 2015, Zayn has been releasing more intimate music, while adopting a sultry sound that seems to have fans swooning at his every move. If this new Zayn means more shirtless music videos, then sign us up!