When it comes to Made in the A.M., the fifth and perhaps final 1D album, recorded without him and released about two weeks before our talk, Malik admits he hasn’t even heard it. “Nah,” he says. “I’ll be honest. I thought the first single was quite cool. I heard the second single and” -- he screws up his face -- “yeah, I didn’t buy the album.”
“I genuinely enjoyed [the band] and did whatever I could to be myself within that, but it’s just not where I sit as a musician,” he says. “The other boys’ taste was generally indie rock. It’s good music, but I don’t f--- with it. That was never cool where I was from.”