Zayn Malik may have promised that he had "four friends for life" in his One Direction bandmates when he left the group in March of last year, but now the emerging solo artist has revealed he hasn't talked to some of his former comrades in a long time.
In the new issue of Billboard, Malik opened up about his current relationships with Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan. And though the 22-year-old singer remained a little vague, he did mention that he no longer has "certain phone numbers."
"The truth of it is, you can think one thing about a situation and the total opposite can happen. I had every intention of remaining friends with everybody, but I guess certain phone numbers have changed and I haven't received calls from a lot of people," he said. "I've reached out to a few of them and not got a reply. Certain people have pride issues, but it's stuff you overcome in time."
Malik, who has been open about the fact that One Direction's music wasn't his cup of tea (he favors R&B while his bandmates liked indie rock), said that while he enjoyed the band's lead Made in the A.M. single "Drag Me Down," he wasn't a fan of "Perfect."
"I'll be honest. I thought the first single was quite cool. I heard the second single and, yeah, I didn't buy the album," he said, apparently while "screwing up his face."
Though Malik's comments about One Direction are sure to make the most buzz out of this feature, there are also new details about his debut solo album, which is due out sometime in the early spring.
Malik is working with Frank Ocean's channel ORANGE producer James "Malay" Ho and is infusing his R&B influences with songs such as the previously teased song "Befour" as well as tracks "It's You" and "Wrong." The music was also likened to that of The Weeknd and Drake.