Zayn to publish life story post-One Direction

NEW YORK—Zayn Malik, who found superstardom as a teen heartthrob with One Direction before a heated falling out, is publishing an autobiography at age 23.

Publisher Penguin Random House on Tuesday announced that “Zayn,” described as the British singer’s “first autobiography,” would come out worldwide on November 1 and feature his thoughts, drawings and personal photographs.

“I’m going to show you as much as I can so that you can judge me on my own terms, not on what the press or anyone else says,” Zayn, who has gone just by his first name as a solo artist, said in a statement.

Zayn quickly became a celebrity with One Direction, five squeaky-clean lads discovered on the reality television show “The X Factor” who went on to fill stadiums full of ecstatic girls around the world.

But the carefully crafted image was shattered in 2015 when Zayn left One Direction, leading to open, nasty exchanges on social media with his ex-bandmates.

Zayn has found success on his own as a solo artist and has taken on a persona that would have been unthinkable with One Direction, with R&B-tinged songs full of lust.

Despite his fame, Zayn has been sparing in his public statements since One Direction. He told Beats One radio host Zane Lowe when he released his solo album that he had been craving a more challenging artistic life.

The publisher said Zayn’s book would also explore his “normal childhood” in Bradford, an industrial hub in England with a large South Asian community.

Zayn, who is partially of Pakistani origin, is one of the most prominent Muslims in Western pop culture.

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Zayn tops charts in post-One Direction debut

NEW YORK — One Direction star Zayn Malik is finding renewed success in his own right, with his solo debut album opening at number one in both the United States and Britain.

The 23-year-old, who now simply calls himself Zayn, has gone racier as a solo artist with a sexual image that would have been out of the question for his former boy band.

His album “Mind of Mine,” sold 157,000 copies or the equivalent in downloads or streaming in its first week in the United States, Nielsen Music said late Sunday.

Zayn becomes the first British male solo artist to debut at number one on the benchmark US Billboard chart with his first album.

George Michael went to number one in 1988 with “Faith,” his blockbuster solo debut after disbanding the pop duo Wham!, but he did not do so in his first week.

“Mind of Mine” also debuted at number one in Britain, where Zayn edged out fellow homegrown star Adele on the Official Albums Chart released Friday.

Zayn released “Mind of Mine” on March 25, the anniversary of his abrupt and at time acrimonious departure from One Direction amid a global tour.

The boy band later released an album without Zayn before declaring an indefinite hiatus.

Zayn goes for a more R&B sound on “Mind of Mine” and offers plenty of sexuality, with an alternative cover of the album depicting him topless showing off his muscular, tattooed body.

The first track, “Pillowtalk,” is an ode to passionate lovemaking, with Zayn in the song promising to take a partner to “a place that is so pure, so dirty and raw.”

Zayn has said he was unhappy with the artistic constraints of One Direction, a group that emerged from Britain’s “The X Factor” television contest in 2010.

The band quickly became one of the world’s top-selling acts, packing arenas full of young girls with its squeaky clean pop songs.

source: entertainment.inquirer.net