In a candid interview with Complex Magazine, the singer opened up about the reasons for leaving the band and his split with fiancé Perrie Edwards.
Speaking about the band and struggling with his authenticity he said, "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."
He added that there were certain types of restrictions while in the band saying, "Mainly my beard, honestly. I wasn’t allowed to keep it. Eventually, when I got older, I rebelled against it, and decided to keep it anyway.
"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."
While speaking about the new album and the inspiration for it, he said it was about falling out of love, that love being with Perrie Edwards. He said, "There is a lot of falling in love and a lot of falling out of love. It’s probably 60/40, falling out of love."
He said that his feelings help his creativity, "I feel like you get creative with things when you can be honest. Whether that’s positive or negative, it can work both ways. If you’re in a really good place, you can write a really good, upbeat song. When you’re in a shit place you can write a downbeat fucking ballad! [
Laughs.] That’s just the way it is. But I feel like you can draw good creative things from both."
Zayn's debut album is out March 25th.
