Zayn Malik reveals his only regret in One Direction and talks about unexpected skills that Gigi Hadid passed on to his daughter; watch

Zayn Malik opened up about his personal life and how his view of One Direction has changed over the years. In a rare interview with “The Zach Sang Show”, the singer spoke about his current relationship with Gigi Hadid, shared one of his three-year-old daughter Khai’s musical skills, and revealed one of his biggest regrets while he was still a member of the boy band .

About to release his new album, “Room Under the Stairs”, the Brit reflected on the time he spent in 1D. He was part of the group for five years, from 2010 to 2015, when he decided to leave to, as announced at the time, be “a normal 22 year old guy who can relax and have some private time out of the spotlight“.

The following year, he began his solo career and released three albums: “Mind of Mine”, in 2016, “Icarus Falls”, in 2018, and “Nobody is Listening”, in 2021. Asked by Zach Sang if there was something for which he regretted it, when he was part of the boy band, the artist revealed that he wished he had taken things less seriously.

“The main thing I always feel bad about when I look back on my life is that I didn’t like the band enough“, lamented Zayn. The Brit highlighted the level of maturity of the other members at that time and reflected how each one’s ambitions put them in “competition”.

“I think the issue was that we were so young. And when we were in the band, we didn’t have that level of compassion yet, because we didn’t understand life. We were just kids who were put in this situation“, he added. In addition to Zayn, One Direction also consisted of Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson. “Now, when I look back, I can look at it in a positive light and think that all of these guys came from similar backgrounds to me. They had nothing, they worked hard, they wanted to sing, they were put in a band“, he reflected.

“And we resented it to a certain extent because we were solo artists who were put in a band, and we should never have felt that way. It should never have been a competition. It should have always been a camaraderie, and we should always be there and supporting each other“, pointed out the artist.

Furthermore, Zayn explained that he always looked at things with a “glass half empty” mentality. Now, he credited the change in his thinking, to “glass half full”, to his daughter, Khai, the result of his previous relationship with Gigi Hadid. The singer and the model were together from 2015 to 2018. After a brief split, they reconciled but split again in 2019. In September 2020, they welcomed their firstborn.

The artist shared that the little girl has shown signs of musical talent, which he attributed to his ex-girlfriend. “She is able to joke around a little. She’s not an expert, but she has a bit of rhythm when she plays the drums. I can definitely say she can turn this into something. Her mom was actually really good at ‘Guitar Hero’ drumming. I thought, ‘Maybe she got that from her mother.’ Because I was terrible at it and Gigi used to beat me all the time. I was like, ‘What the fuck. I’m the musician and she beats me at this game’“, remembered.

Finally, Zayn was happy to be able to talk, currently, about both his relationship with his daughter’s mother and with 1D. “I think this is just a development over time. I mean, I became a more understanding and caring person towards other people. And what I learned is what I should have done sooner“, he declared.

“I’m grateful that I can be happier now, really enjoy things, and have my own perspective. That’s my choice. I decide what it is. If I frame everything in a negative way, I won’t get satisfaction from it, but if I act with happiness, I can gain so much more and have fun“, he concluded. Watch: