Words: Steven Mackenzie Portrait: Charlie Chich
You can take the boy out of Bradford, but you can’t take Bradford out of the boy – even if he becomes a global megastar.
Zayn Malik first entered our lives on the stage of The X Factor auditions in 2010, aged just 17, when he was teamed up with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson. One Direction may not have won the series but they quickly became a stratospheric pop phenomenon, shifting 70 million records with their final gigs as a fivesome, on the Where We Are Tour which became the highest grossing ever by a group, totalling over £230 million as they played to 3,439,560 fans worldwide.
And then, after five years in the band, Zayn stepped away. In a statement he said he wanted to live as a “normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight”.
But the closing of one chapter was only the beginning for Zayn. With his first solo album released in 2016, Mind of Mine, he became the first UK male artist to top the US charts with a debut. The song Pillowtalk hit number one in a staggering 68 countries.
Next month Zayn, now 31, releases his latest album, Room Under The Stairs, with his 100 million-plus followers across social media eagerly awaiting a record that’s been six years in the making. It promises to be his most personal music yet; Zayn describes it as being a “whimsical, magical journey” for listeners. He explained:
“I wanted each song to feel as if it was just me sitting beside you telling you how I feel, singing directly to you. It’s raw and stripped back and the type of music I always hoped to make.”
Lead single Who I Am reveals a new direction for the former One Directioner. There’s a soulful sound and self-reflecting lyrics exploring where he’s been and where he’s heading. He sings: “Don’t take me for what I’m saying / Just take me for what I am / ’Cause this is where I’m staying / My two feet are in the sand.”
Zayn is more than a supernova pop star. He’s a campaigner and proud voice for positive change. As perhaps the highest profile and best-known British Muslim, he has an unmatched platform. Earlier this year he generated headlines around the world after collaborating with Pakistani band Aur, performing vocals in Urdu. In reaction to the cost of living crisis crippling communities across the country, he wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calling for the expansion of free school meals for the close to one million children living in p
