Zayn Malik

At 31 years old, Zayn Malik has this physical status:

Zain Javadd Malik (born 12 January 1993), also known as Zayn, is an English singer and songwriter.

Malik, who was born and raised in Bradford, West Yorkshire, auditioned as a solo contestant for the British music competition The X Factor in 2010.

Malik was brought back to the competition, along with four other contestants, to form the boy band that would later be known as One Direction after being barred as a solo performer.

Malik joined the company in March 2015 and later signed a solo recording deal with RCA Records. Malik's debut studio album Mind of Mine (2016) and its lead single, "Pillowtalk," became the first British male artist to debut at number one in both the United Kingdom and the United States, with his debut single and debut album.

Malik has been named recipient of several honors, including an American Music Award, Billboard Music Award, and MTV Video Music Award.

Icarus Falls, Icarus Falls' second studio album, was released in December 2018.

Early life

Zayn Malik was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, in 1993, to an immigrant Pakistani Muslim father, Yaser Malik, and Trisha Malik, a White British mother of English and Irish descent, who converted to Islam after marriage. Doniya, Malik's older sister, and two younger sisters, Waliya and Safaa, are among his three siblings. Despite growing upbringing in Islam, he no longer identifys as a Muslim.

Malik grew up in East Bowling, Bradford, in a working-class family and community. He attended Lower Fields Primary School and Tong High School (now Tong Leadership Academy) in Bradford. As a youth, he attended performing arts classes and appeared in school productions. He grew up listening to his father's urban music recordings, mainly R&B, hip hop, and reggae. When singer Jay Sean visited his school, he wrote raps while at school and performed on stage for the first time. Malik has been boxed for two years, ranging from the ages of 15 to 17. He aspired to earn an English degree before starting his music career in the hopes of becoming an English teacher.

Personal life

Raised as a Muslim, Malik speaks English and Urdu and can read Arabic. He was a victim of anti-Muslim attacks in the past. Malik said in 2017 that he identified himself as a non-practising Muslim and that he did not want to be identified by his faith or cultural background. He told British Vogue that he no longer considers himself a Muslim in November 2018.

When in One Direction, Malik openly talked about his eating disorder, which he attributes to the tour's grueling workload and rate. He has also discussed anxiety and a lack of confidence, especially before live solo performances, after being confronted with "the worst anxiety" of his career.

Malik has been a lifelong supporter of Bradford City, A.F.C. He has a SoHo apartment and has previously owned houses in Los Angeles and London, both of which he sold in 2018.

From 2010 to 2011, Malik dated fellow X Factor contestant Geneva Lane of Belle Amie. Rebecca Ferguson, a contestant, dated X Factor for several months until July 2011, and actress Stephanie Davis in the same year. Malik started dating Perrie Edwards of the band Little Mix in December 2011, but the pair broke up in August 2015.

Malik started a new, off-again relationship with American model Gigi Hadid in late 2015. In his music video for "Pillowtalk," Hadid appeared in "Pillowtalk" and the pair appeared together on Vogue's August 2017 front page. Both photographers were photographed for a Versace campaign in 2017. In September 2020, Malik and Hadid welcomed their first child, a daughter. The family spent the majority of their time on a working farm in rural Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where Malik tended to horses and cows, and Hadid's mother Yolanda and sister Bella also owned property. After Hadid's mother accused him of assaulting her, Malik and Hadid's relationship came to an end in October 2021; Malik entered a no contest plea to four charges of harassment. According to court records, Malik "grabbed and pushed her into a dresser that caused mental and physical pain" and that "lewd, lascivious, threatening, or obscene words" was the case. He was sentenced to 360 days of probation and the completion of anger management and domestic violence education courses by a Pennsylvania court.

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Career

In 2010, the 17-year-old Malik auditioned in Manchester for the seventh series of reality television competition The X Factor. On the morning of the audition, Malik became ill and did not want to attend, but his mother eventually coerced him to bed and coaxed him to go. He performed "Let Me Love You" by Mario as his audition song and was accepted into the next round. "I was looking for an experience" when auditioning for The X Factor. Despite being disqualified before the final round of the competition, judges Nicole Scherzinger and Simon Cowell joined Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson to form a new act for the remainder of the performance, the boy band that would become known as One Direction. The group quickly rose to fame in the United Kingdom, finishing third in third place, and Cowell soon agreed to a reported £2 million Syco Records recording contract. They were signed to Columbia Records in North America.

One Direction, One Direction: Forever Young (Our Official X Factor Story) was released in February 2011 and ranked No. 1 on the Sunday Times' Best Seller list. As part of the X Factor Live Tour, the boy band appeared for 500,000 people around the UK last month. In November 2011, the group's debut studio album Up All Night was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland. They became the first UK group to have their debut album debut at number one in the United States in March 2012. In 16 countries, it ranked first. "What Makes You Beautiful" was a worldwide commercial success, debuting at number one in the United Kingdom and number four in the United States; it has since been certified four and six times platinum in the United States and Australia, respectively. "Gotta Be You" and "One Thing" were two of the top ten hits in the United Kingdom. Following the album's debut, the band embarked on the Up All Night Tour. Initially planned to be primarily a UK tour, but dates in North America and Australia were added due to demand. Up All Night: The Live Tour, a video album chronicling the tour's appearance, was released in May 2012. Dare to Dream: Life as One Direction, One Direction's first book to be published in America, landed on the New York Times Best Seller list in the first month.

One Direction's lead single from their second album, "Live While We're Young," soared in nearly every region it charted in and set the most important one-week opening sales figure for a non-US artist at the time, in September 2012. "Little Things," the band's second single in the United Kingdom, became the band's second number-one single. Take Me Home, One Direction's second studio album, was released in November 2012. In its first week in the United States, the record reached its peak in 35 countries, selling 540,000 copies in its first week. The group became the first boy band in the United States to have two number-one albums in the same calendar year, and the first group since 2008 to have two number-one albums in the same year. In February 2013, the group unveiled the Take Me Home Tour, the group's second concert tour, played over 100 shows in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Asia. The tour was extremely profitable, grossing $114 million. This Is Us, a 3D documentary concert film, was released in August 2013, grossing $68.5 million in the box office. One Direction's third book, One Direction: Where We Are: Our Band's Full Story: The same month was released.

Midnight Memories, the band's third studio album, was released in November 2013. In 2013, it was the most well-selling album in the world, with four million copies sold worldwide. One Direction is the first band in history to have their first three albums debut on Billboard 200. "Best Song Ever" the album's lead single, and it became the group's highest-charting single in the United States to date. They embarked on the Where We Are Tour, their first all-stadium tour in 2014; tickets sold out in minutes, and more shows were added due to "overwhelming demand." On the tour, which gross-grossing concert tour of all time, attracted 49,848 fans per show, and was the 15th highest-grossing concert tour of all time, and remains the country's highest-grossing tour, according to a vocal group. One Direction's fourth book, One Direction: Our Official Autobiography, was published in September 2014. One Direction: Where We Are – The Concert Film, the company's second concert film, was released in October 2014.

Four, the group's fourth album, was released in November 2014. The album was their fourth consecutive number one album, debuting in 18 countries and selling 3.2 million copies. "Steal My Girl" and "Night Changes" are two of the United States' most popular artists, in comparison to other nations. The group began On The Road Again Tour in 2015. Following the band's 16th show of the tour, it was announced that Malik had become overwhelmed with anxiety and would not be present for the remaining shows of the Asian leg of the tour on March 18, 2015.

The band's drummer announced his resignation on March 25, 2015, just a week later. Malik referred to his desire to live as a "natural 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight," and denied rumors of a split between the two groups, saying that they had been supportive of the decision. However, Malik said in a December 2015 interview with The Fader that he was dissatisfied with the band's musical direction" and that "there was never any room for me to experiment creatively in the band"; and that "if I would perform a hook or a verse slightly R&B"; "they would never have a straight version that was pop, generic as f—, so they could use that version." "I think I always wanted to go, starting from the first year" and "I never really wanted to be there." I gave it a try because it was available at the time... I knew I wasn't for me immediately because I knew I didn't have any input in."

Malik was seen at a London recording studio with producer Naughty Boy in March 2015. Following his release of his first solo studio album under the Syco brand in 2016, Malik speculated to a solo career. On the same month, Naughty Boy was released on SoundCloud as an early demo of Malik's album "I Won't Mind." Mic Righteous leaked Malik's "No Type," a UK rapper starring Mic Righteous and produced by Naughty Boy in June 2015, a cover version of Rae Sremmurd's hip hop song. During this period, Malik appeared with grime rappers Krept & Konan. The information was never released after Malik parted ways with Naughty Boy. Despite being unveiled, Malik's work with Naughty Boy and Krept & Konan helped him reach a new urban audience in the United Kingdom.

Malik announced in July 2015 that he had signed a recording contract with RCA Records by July 2015. Malik gave several interviews later this year to talk about his debut solo studio album and revealed a portion of the track list. "I've been inspired by the albums' influence and just stuff that I've lived through," he said on The Fader. In a chat with Billboard, Malik's top collaborator on the album James "Malay" Ho, they went to extraordinary lengths in search of inspiration during recording sessions, for one "we went camping for a week in the Angeles Forest," a woman said. Malik's first solo on-camera interview with Zane Lowe of Apple Music's Beats 1 revealed Mind of Mine as the album's name.

"Pillowtalk," the album's lead single, was released in January 2016. The song debuted on top in several countries, including on the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100; on the latter, it became the 25th song to debut at number one, making him the first UK artist to debut at number one with a debut single. The chart's success as "Pillowtalk" pushed Malik to number six on the Billboard Artist 100 chart. He has surpassed records for the first-day and weekly streams for a debut artist around the world. "Like I Would," the album's second official single, debuted on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart, ranked at number one. Malik released a remix of "Pillowtalk" starring American rapper Lil Wayne and contributing guest vocals to Chris Brown's R&B song "Back to Sleep," which also featured Usher.

Mind of Mine was released in March 2016 and featured songs co-written by Malik; one of the album's songs features American R&B singer-songwriter Kehlani. The album is primarily a R&B and alternative R&B collection, and it incorporates elements from a variety of genres. Mind of Mine was arranged in an "album-as-work" style throughout the album, retaining a tight knit cohesion throughout the album, with a virtually seamless transition between and within songs while still maintaining a recognizable, mostly downbeat, "hazy" tone throughout. This gave the album a continuous flow, giving the appearance that it all came from one person's "mind." It received generally favorable feedback, with praise for Malik's latest musical direction, his singing, and the execution.

Mind of Mine debuted at number one in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and the United States, where he became the first British male solo artist to debut at number one with his first album. Zayn debuted as the first week of the US Billboard 200, grossing 157,000 equivalent album units, with 112,000 coming from pure album sales. Zayn was also the first British male artist to debut on both the UK and the United States, and the third artist to debut at number one on both the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 with debut entries on both the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 (along with Lauryn Hill and Clay Aiken). He also topped the Billboard Artist 100 chart, beating One Direction's number one position on the chart.

Mind of Mine's promotional tour included his second solo appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, appearances on the Honda Stage, and the 3rd iHeartRadio Music Awards. Snakehips' British production team "Cruel" starred Malik in July 2016. Taylor Swift and Malik recorded "I Don't Want A Live Forever" on the soundtrack of the film Fifty Shades Darker (2017), ranked second in the United States, number five in the United Kingdom, and number one in Sweden by the end of 2016. Zayn wrote an autobiography at the time, describing the writing process as "therapeutic."

On March 24, 2017, Malik performed "Still Got Time" with PartyNextDoor. Through his social media, Malik revealed the new single "Dusk Till Dawn," starring Sia. Jemima Kirke, an American actress directed by Marc Webb, was featured in the single on September 7th, 2017; an accompanying music video followed her. Malik continued to perform songs from his forthcoming second album without announcing the date or name of the album.

Malik took the lead from the album's "Let Me" album on April 12, 2018. On May 23, the second single, "Entertainer," was released. On July 18th, he released "Sour Diesel," his third single from the album. Malik's album "Too Much" debuted Timbaland on August 2nd. On October 18, "fingers" was the fifth single to be released. As the sixth single and last official single from the album, he and rapper Nicki Minaj collaborated on "No Candle No Light" as the sixth single and final official single from the album, which was released on November 15th. Malik finally revealed that his second solo studio album, Icarus Falls, would be released on November 30th, along with its first marketing single, "Rainberry." He dropped "Good Years" on December 6th, his second promotional single, and "There You Are" on the album's final promotional and pre-release single. On December 14, Icarus Falls debuted 27 songs, six of which had never been released; "Still Got Time" and "Dusk Till Dawn" were exclusive to the Japanese version of the album; "Understand Time" and "Dusk Till Dawn" were only included on the Japanese version. Music critics generally praised the album, but it was not as commercially lucrative as his predecessor album. On the UK Billboard 200 and 77 charts, Icarus Falls reached 61 and 77. "Still Got Time" and "Dusk Till Dawn" were among the album's highlights on August 28, 2020.

In 2019, Malik produced a cover version of "A Whole New World" with Zhavia Ward, which was the soundtrack to the 2019 film remake Aladdin. On May 17, Malik and Becky G's bilingual English and Spanish version, "Un Mundo Ideal," was released. With Aitana, he produced a complete Spanish version. On September 26, Malik and indie pop band Shaed unveiled a remix of the former's "Trampoline" album, with Malik contributing vocals. He continued this with his new project, "Flames," which he wrote and recorded with Dutch DJ and producer R3hab and British DJ Jungleboi. On November 15, the album was released.

Malik's third studio album "No One Is Listening" debuted on September 25, 2020, as the lead single from his third studio album Nobody Is Listening. The album was his first solo debut in over two years. The album was billed as "his most personal project to date," Malik wrote about it. On January 8, 2021, the album's second song, "Vibez," was released with the album pre-order. The album was released a week later, on January 15th.

Malik released "Grimez," "Believe Me"," and "4711" on September 13, 2021, along with a set of three songs titled Yellow Tape via Dropbox. The tracks' embrace of the old-school hip-hop sound represented a change in his musical direction. RCA dropped Malik from their catalogue in October 2021.

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