Liam Payne has spoken frankly about his friendship with Zayn Malik, admitting fully understands why the superstar has opted to live a life away from the spotlight since leaving One Direction in 2016.
Despite releasing two albums and countless solo singles, Zayn has only made a handful of public appearances and hasn’t toured as a solo artist due to anxiety.
During an exclusive chat with Daily Star Online, Liam, who is set to return to the charts in the coming weeks with his and Alesso’s new single Midnight, explained he thinks fans are premature in assuming Zayn will be at any potential 1D anniversary event despite the lads all refollowing him on social media earlier this month.
Liam, 26, said: “Some people are made for this thing but Zayn enjoys the side of the music where he just gets to make music.
“I don’t think he enjoys what comes with it. I think he has to be very careful where he treads.
Liam Payne says he understands why Zayn wouldn’t want to rejoin One Direction (Image: Getty Images)
“He likes to make songs and his songs do very well but at the same time he doesn’t really like to go out and perform the songs.
“He doesn’t really like going out and doing the press stuff that surrounds it in the crazy little world that we live in.”
Over the past ten years Liam and Zayn have seen their words transformed from naive hopeful teenagers to global superstars will ballooning bank balances and an millions of followers online.
But while it may look like the perfect life from the outside looking in, the reality can be a never ending chain of lonely hotel rooms and constant speculation about your love life plastered online.
Both Liam and Zayn have had high-profile relationships come crashing down as the world dissects every twist and turn in the glare of the media spotlight.
Zayn Malik left One Direction in 2016 and a reunion seems unlikely (Image: Getty Images for DCP)
The Strip That Down singer continued: “Being a pop star is completely different thing to what you think it is.
“Most of it is online stuff and followers etc.
“It is is a very interesting and weird popularity contest at the moment, even I am like ‘wow this is a lot’”.
“Every new app you have to join in and I’m like… ‘but how do you make a TikTok?’”
Admitting candidly he, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson Harry Styles always secretly aware Zayn wasn’t fully happy with life in 1D, Liam continued: “We always kind of knew that there were moments when One Direction was really Zayn and then there were moments when it really wasn’t.
Liam Payne and Alesso – Midnight is out now
“You have to imagine when you go into these talent shows you often are a teenager.
“The only thing you are in the show for is to impress someone around you. You actually don’t really know what you want from life.
“I started at 14 and when I was that age I hadn’t got a bloody clue what I wanted to do.
“My parents found it exciting and they thought I was good so I thought I would try it out – but you done know what you want.
“I remember Zayn telling us the story that it was his mum got him to go to the audition the day he didn’t want to go and that was literally what we saw all the way through One Direction.”
Zayn has been keen to live life away from the media spotlight (Image: PapCulture / Splash News)
Ever since the One Direction boys and the group’s official account re-followed Zayn, fans have gone into overdrive speculating it means the Dusk still Dawn signer is ready to come back into the fold.
However, while not wanting to shattered dreams, Liam is keen to stress it’s not a done deal.
“I think it is a bit premature [to think us reflowing Zayn means he’s back], “ Cheryl’s baby-daddy continued.
“Look at it this the way, every time one of us releases an album it is another two years and now with this [coronavirus] on top of it everyone has had to backlog tours almost and cancel things.
Zayn made a rare appearance at the Aladdin World Premiere in LA last May after covering the film’s song A Whole New World (Image: Getty Images for Disney)
“That has added time on for sure. The truth is don’t really know.
“We haven’t really spoken about a reunion properly.
“Me and Louis have spoken about it a bit like ‘do you think it will happen?’ but we haven’t had conversation between us all which I’m sure will come along at some point but it is hard.
“You don’t want to deter any of the fans and say ‘no we are not getting back together’ but you also don’t want to add hope.
“It is a really difficult situation to be in, I kind of just want to say ‘yeh i’m not really sure right now, but don’t get too excited’”.
Liam Payne and Alesso – Midnight is out now
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
