Zayn Malik Covers Complex Magazine

Zayn Malik is on the cover of the April/May issue of Complex magazine. The young singer is on the cover to promote his debut solo album Mind of Mine. Highlights are below.

On finally releasing his solo music: “The whole process behind the album was short, but it felt like forever. I wrote all kinds of personal stuff. When I thought about the way that it sounded to me, it sounded great, and I listened to it over and over again. Then I went to a transitional phase where I realized, ‘S***. Everybody else is going to listen to this as well.’ So I had to think about it from that perspective. There was a lot of built-up anxiety to create this thing. You don’t really know what’s going to happen. So when that song went out, and I saw the reaction from the fans, that took a little weight off me for a bit. Obviously, there’s still a lot of pressure. I don’t want to be a one-hit wonder, so I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

On struggling with authenticity while with One Direction: “That was something that was always underlying, and ended up as the main factor of me leaving in the end. It was about denying the authenticity of who I was, and what I enjoyed about music, and why I got into it. That was always there. It was one of the things that wasn’t going to go away, so I had to go away.”

On potentially getting an education in Los Angeles after the album drops: “I think so. Who knows? I think I’ll just do a home thing. I’ll get my courses from one of the universities around here and just do home study. It’s always something I’ve wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to get my degree eventually. I want to do that, and hopefully write my next record while I’m doing it.”

You can check out even more from Zayn’s interview here. Zayn’s album will drop on March 25!