We are supposed to call Zayn Malik just “Zayn”, no more Malik. I’m still not used to it. Anyway, Zayn is featured in the new issue of British Vogue and in the excerpt, it’s not clear what this is for. Obviously, presumably, there’s new music coming out, but this isn’t mentioned, because the focus here is his relationship with the other members of One Direction (there isn’t one) and his relationship with Gigi Hadid.
On Gigi, he says they’re living together and that:
“Everything is great,” he says of their relationship, which weathered a brief, but very public, split and reconciliation earlier this year. “She’s super-organised and I’m really not. It helps that she can get things together for me a little bit. I lean on her a lot.”
I feel the same way about Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin’s relationship. That’s a topic for another post.
As for what it’s like now between Zayn and the other Directions, friendships can be Fast Flames™ too. That quick, intense burn isn’t limited to romance – and please, please DO NOT START with the whole Harry + Louis conspiracy.
"We went from theatres, to arenas, to stadiums - there was never any sort of bridge between. Just boom, boom, boom,” the now 25-year-old tells Vogue features director Giles Hattersley of One Direction's demanding schedule. “I guess that kind of progression to any mind – but especially when you're 17, 18 - it kind of affects you a little bit. People take it different ways – especially when there are five different personalities. The relationships had broken apart."
What, exactly, does “broken apart” mean? In this case, it means they don’t talk. Which is something Zayn has talked about before. If he keeps talking about it, does it mean he’s not over it?
Indeed, Zayn says he came away from his five years in One Direction without having made a single friend. "Yeah," he says. "I have always been a bit like that, though – always a bit of an island. I don't like to confer with too many people." Does he see any of the band still? "Nah. I ain't spoke to any of them for a long time, to be honest with you. That's just the way it is. There's things that happen and things that were said after I left... Snide things. Small things that I would never have expected."
If he’s not over it, it’s because he’s still holding a grudge. I guess he’s just explained the grudge. They talked sh-t about him. He found out (something we also knew because he’s told us before) and the sh-t they were talking is too much for him to move past. Or go back to.
Not unlike the Sex and the City situation. Kim Cattrall was the outcast. It’s been rumoured that Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis talked sh-t about her. Excluded her. Mean-girled her. Not unlike the way Zayn claims he was mean-boyed.
Oh…what? This kind of drama happens with boys too? Please. There’s always been all kinds of boy band drama. Or boy team drama. A male professional sports team is basically a boy band. There is no more fertile place for gossip than a locker room. Or a barber shop! That’s what LeBron James has been doing on his series, The Shop. Can you imagine what they’d be saying about a series that takes place in a “hair salon” with women sitting around talking about their concerns, their baby drama (hi Drake), their work issues, how they raise their kids… basically what’s been going on at the hair and nail salon since hair and nail salons were invented? It’s a form of self and collective care, though I doubt that they’d be described with the same gravitas.
Anyway, Zayn’s still in his feelings about whatever went down between him, Harry, Niall, Liam, and Louis. Zayn, like Kim Cattrall, probably will not want to get together for a reunion if and when that’s ever offered to them…although, to be fair, I can’t see Harry wanting a piece of that either. Zayn’s the 1D version of Geri Halliwell. Harry and Zayn are the 1D version of Victoria Beckham.
For more on Zayn, check out British Vogue.
