RCA
RCA

In the new NME interview, the former One Direction member opens up about his former bandmates, his childhood and his new album Mind of Mine. 

 

On which One Direction member he still talks to: “I’m still probably the closest to Liam [Payne]. We talk on the phone. He congratulated me on my single. Which was nice. I congratulated him on his Brit Award. It was a good chat. We hadn’t met in a long time so we want to meet up.”

 

On the other guys in 1D: “I tried to have contact but nobody’s reached out. So…whatever.”

 

On the media storm that occurred when he left the band: “You can be in the eye of it if you choose to be. Or you can let it overwhelm you. See, I’ve kept a little bit of my sanity. I understand how the media works. Journos gotta earn their money. Paps have got to earn their money.”

 

Zayn On His Childhood Struggles: “I seemed to find myself in situations that weren’t necessarily the best situations. Getting wound up by stuff people said… I wasn’t sensitive… I hate to get into it because it’s not something that affects my brain any more. There was a kind of racial confusion with me. They didn’t really know where to put me. I confused arrogance with ignorance. Certain people don’t want to know certain things and I had to realize I couldn’t teach them.”

 

Zayn On Returning To His Hometown: “When I go back to Bradford, I just put me dad’s coat on and walk about. People don’t expect it to be me.”

 

Zayn On “Lad Sh*t” Inspiring His To-Be-Released “Befour” Music Video: “It wasn’t like: ‘I’m still Jenny from the block. It was more like: this is what I used to do. Go down the chip shop, hang out with my boys in the car park. We never set fire to cars, but…”

 

Zayn On His New Album Mind Of Mine: “It’s really reflective of the whole experience that I want to give the listener. I wanted it to be almost like a brainstorm. It’s just music and it’s just whatever you’re feeling at that moment in time.”

 

Zayn On Dumping Naughty Boy And Working With Producer James “Malay” Ho: “With Naughty Boy, look, we just didn’t get on. And we’ll leave it at that. Malay is all about the music. He can tell you what the screw is in a microphone that gives it that tinny sound. He’s that kind of guy. And he’s a very interesting person. I find people interesting if they can break things down.”

 

Zayn On Smoking Pot: “I’ve probably been smoking for a while. I don’t wanna say when I started because I don’t want to influence anyone else. That’s just something I do myself… It helps sometimes with the creative process, if you’re smoking a good weed.”

 

Zayn On Surviving One Direction Craziness:“You can be in the eye of it if you choose to be. Or you can let it overwhelm you. See, I’ve kept a little bit of my sanity. I understand how the media works. Journos gotta earn their money. Paps have got to earn their money… I think that’s why it came across as being mysterious or detached. I just didn’t want to get caught up in something that wasn’t real. You can be the biggest band in the world for a certain time, but that ends.”

 

Zayn On Claims He Was Kicked Out:“I seem to remember someone saying something like that, but I don’t remember any rumors.”

 

Zayn On Whether The Rest Of 1D Now Hates Him: “Who knows.” Should they? “I don’t think so.”

 

 

Mind of Mine is out now!

(via JustJared & NME)