She appeared in his steamy music video for his first solo single Pillowtalk, in which they could barely keep their hands - or lips - off each other. But Zayn Malik says he is doing his best to maintain a normal relationship with Gigi Hadid away from the spotlight. 'I try to keep the two very separate,' the 23-year-old told Complex magazine's April/May issue, which he graces the cover of. 'I try to, as much as I can. But there’s only so much you can do. 'I’m learning to deal with it. It’s just one of those things now, in the background. I just leave it as a bit of a noise in the background.'
As well as discussing his relationship, the singer talked about leaving One Direction and revealed that he wasn't allowed to dye his hair or grow a beard while he was a part of the group. 'There were certain restrictions in terms of the way that we could come outside of that young teen boy look,' he explained to Complex. 'Mainly my beard, honestly. I wasn’t allowed to keep it. 'Eventually, when I got older, I rebelled against it, and decided to keep it anyway. That was just because I looked older than the rest of them.'
And he shared that the music he was making as part of the group wasn't 'authentic' to him, meaning his heart wasn't in it. 'It was about denying the authenticity of who I was, and what I enjoyed about music, and why I got into it,' Zayn said. 'That was always there. It was one of the things that wasn’t going to go away, so I had to go away.'
Speaking about his new career as a solo artist, the pop star added: 'I know already it’s going to be massively different. I felt different when the single dropped. There’s so many extra emotions tied into it because it’s a personal song. The former X Factor contestant is gearing up for the release of his debut solo album Mind Of Mine, which comes out on March 25. Following the success of Pillowtalk, Zayn released the second official single on the album, Like I Would, earlier this month.
Source: MailOnline
