Zayn Malik Smolders, Teases New Music for FADER

It's been a year since One Direction released their last album as a group of five and since his departure, Zayn Malik has weathered Twitter attacks from past bandmates and a breakup, all while working in his first solo music.

For his cover story for FADERmagazine, Malik hones the loner personality that earned him the label of "bad boy" during his time in the biggest boy band in the world. He talks about the influences for his upcoming album while snippets of his new song, "Befour," are teased in the background.

"I used to listen to a lot of Bollywood being a kid so, yeah, that definitely influenced the music a little bit, and then as I got older I guess I just started listening to a lot of my dad's old records, like '90s stuff. Like a lot of R&B and a lot of rap."

Malik also commented on his creative freedom now that a record label isn't constantly looming over him saying, "It's a nice feeling to come out of a place where you are being told what to do and, you know, to be a certain way. Certain expectations or certain things that people want to see."

Watch the video below and read the full FADER story here.