Zayn Malik Opens Up About 6-Year Journey To New Album

You have a few fans here. I'm a fan as well. So thank you for being here. Thank you so much. I heard something random. You live in Pennsylvania. I do, yeah. What? Like, that is so... Usually, like, if you're not from here, like, people know, like, the major cities. I mean, Pennsylvania's great. I love Pennsylvania. Yeah, it's the thing people always say to me. They're always like, why do you live in Pennsylvania? I mean, why not, I guess. But it's just real. It just happened, you know. That's just where I ended up. And I love being there. It's just an amazing place to live. And I hear you have, like, enough room for, like, animals and everything, which I love. What kind of animals do you have? I've got chickens. No cows or anything yet, but we're just keeping it, you know, manageable for the time being. It's a lot of work. There's a lot going on, yeah. Just chickens for now. And I've got some turtles, too. Yeah. But you probably also have, like, natural... Yeah, there's loads of natural wildlife. Turkey and deer and stuff like that, yeah. I've got geese living on the farm at the minute, and their babies are just hatching and stuff. It's really cute, yeah. That's so cool. I hear that you're... We have something in common, too. I have bees on my property as well. I don't actually... There's a guy who asked... Bees, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he was like, can I put my bees on your property? And I was like, if I can have some of your honey, yeah. I was like, I don't even have to do anything. I just get the free honey. Yeah, I actually brought you some honey today. I love honey. I heard about this. Can we try it? I love honey. I'm obsessed. This is, like, from your bees. Yeah, this is my honey. Yeah, try it out. Here, there you go. You want to try it with me? I'll try it out with you. Okay. Let's give it a taste. I'm pretty sure you've had it. Yeah, I have, yeah. This is the first batch that I made, so this is, like, the first time that we got honey from the bees. It's so good. It's really good, right? Yeah. I'm, like, literally licking the spoon. That jar's for you. It's really good. I love it. It's just the coolest thing to... Do you feel like you need that? Like, I feel like I need that in this world, and it gets so chaotic, and we're always around people all the time, and just, like, somewhere to go, like a sanctuary, just to kind of chill. Yeah, for sure, man. I think we all need that, you know? I think we all need a place that is safe to us and a place that we can really, you know, reflect on our lives and think about things, and I like that. Slow down. Yeah, slow it down. Yeah, slow the pace of things down a little bit, and, you know, I enjoy it. I like to work at my own pace as it is. Yeah. Yeah, me too, me too. Well, you have a young daughter. I have two kiddos, but is she around three? She is. She's three and a half. That's fun. Yeah, she'll be four in September. It's an amazing age. Yeah. She's growing up real fast, yeah. The girls do. I have a girl and a boy, and she's going to put you through it. Yeah, I'm sure she will. Yeah. You do something that I think is very cool. You're an advocate for school lunches, right, in the UK? You were a big advocate to make them, like, healthier and accessible and free, like, for kids that can't afford. Yeah, feed the children. Yeah. Yeah, there was a big thing that happened in the UK where the funding stopped for free school meals for kids. Yeah. And, you know, I grew up predominantly relying on that system, you know? Yeah. I grew up in a less-than-working-class family, and that was really important... ..you know, for my progression as a human. Mm-hm. And I felt that, you know, kids deserve to get a meal in school, you know, if they can't afford it. So it was something I felt very passionate about. I sent a letter to the Prime Minister. He did not get back to me. But we'll just quickly move on from that. Yeah. And I tried to do, you know, what I could, and then the organisation actually reached out to me and asked me to get more involved, so we're doing a few things coming up with them. It's very cool, man, to have such a huge spotlight and be able to help, like, the younger version of you. You know what I'm saying? Oh, definitely. It's the same thing for me. Yeah, that's one of the major perks of this job, you know? Yeah. You get to look at things from a different perspective and figure out how can you help out, you know? On Alienated, you sing the following lyrics... I think a lot of people are going to relate to that, this song in general. What is kind of the meaning for you? Um, this record kind of started with that song. I was in a place where, you know, I was feeling a bit alienated, and that just summed up exactly how I was feeling at that time. Yeah. I think it's important, you know, for most people... Well, not most people, for every person in life to look back at things, you know, with a different lens and see things with a fresh perspective, and that was the reason for me to say, you know, leave it all with a laugh, cos I think, you know, whether it's positive, whether it's negative, you can always shape it in your own mind to whatever you want to make it, and that is the sentiment behind that lyric. Yeah, it's funny, like, even, like, the darkest situations in my life are hardest things, you know, years pass and you work through what that is, and it does become almost... You can make a joke about it then, you know what I'm saying? It's nice to get to that point where you're like, well, that didn't work out. Yeah, you get the growth, you get the experience, and you learn something from it, so that's ultimately what you want. I mean, hopefully. Hopefully, yeah. That's the goal. Well, tell us about the lead single. It's called What I Am. Yeah, What I Am is the first single off the record, and I just felt like it was the best song to transition from the music I'd been doing before into this world. It kind of came later in the writing process of the record, which is weird, because it was then the first single. But it just... Yeah, it helped, like, tie it over, you know, from the other stuff I'd been doing before. To bridge the projects, yeah. In terms of lyrical sentiment, I guess I'm just trying to explain that we shouldn't always be defined by one thing, a label, a tag, whatever it is. Because hopefully we're ever-changing. We're ever-changing, we're ever-developing, and always growing, yeah, exactly like you said before, hopefully, anyway. Yeah, that is the goal. Not all of us make it, it's okay. So you've been working on this album for, like, go ahead, you're excited, go ahead. Calm that clap. So you've been working on the album for, like, six years, which I can tell, because I took time on an album as well, especially if it's that personal. And you also worked with one of my favorites, Dave Cobb, who I've never been able to work with. It's so cool, such a great... So this is a different sound, a different vibe, right? Yeah, completely different. Is this kind of where you, not necessarily where you've always wanted to be, but where you just feel like this chapter is in your life? Definitely, yeah, it's just not true, you know. Like you said, when you're in the writing process and it is something that's so personal to you, the reason it took six years is cos I wasn't sitting on it for six years, it took six years to make the record, you know. I was living, something would happen, it would give me inspiration, and then I would go and record a song based on that rather than forcing myself into being like, well, this is the end goal and I need 11 songs for this, you know, I just let them come as they came. And it worked out for me, you know. I learnt a lot on the job, figuring out this genre. You know, I got six years to figure it out. And then when I played a couple of songs to Mercury, who are my new record label, which I'm very proud to say, they fully got the vision and they understood what I was trying to do. And then the head of the label, Tyler, he basically said, yo, you've got to work with Dave Cobb, he will understand this and get your vision fully. So we just reached out with one song, I think it was, and I think he got back within the hour, and he was like, I definitely want to do this, and it's something I'm really interested in. And we just collaborated then and did the whole album together, pretty much. That's so cool, man. I'm so stoked for you. When did you really get into music? I know you're a start, but how did you really go, I want to do this. Yeah, into music, I would say, probably around 15, 16 is where I started singing properly and taking it serious. When I was probably about eight, I was in the school choir, and I joined the school choir just because I fancied these girls that were in the choir. Yeah, they were triplets. It was hard. I love you so much. You're so had to go. Yeah, that's basically where it started. So all of a sudden, I was a tenor. And I wanted to spend some extra time with them, and we got to hang out in choir. You do? I was around all my choir friends forever. I was in choir as well. You do hang out with the group quite a bit. Well, I hope they're watching now. Look what you've done, ladies. So you recently made a big announcement, so can you share more? I did, yeah. I just announced that I'm doing my first gig in London at the Shepherd's Bush Empire venue, which is really exciting. I'm excited to do that, get back on stage, perform for my fans, you know? It's going to be really cool. Well, that's incredible. Everybody's stoked about that. It is so nice to see you. We're such big fans here. Everybody give it up one more time for Zayn Malik!