Zayn Malik broke a lot of teenage hearts when he announced earlier this year, his decision to leave the boy band One Direction.

In an interview with Fader, Malik spoke on the reasons why he left the band. According to him, he felt underutilised, as his creative input was not considered- and management already had a direction they wanted the band to go in.

“There was just a general conception that the management already had of what they want for the band, and I just wasn’t convinced with what we were selling,” he said.

Malik also revealed that he felt the need to be with his family, after the novelty of mostly being on the road with the band started to wear off.

“I guess I just wanted to go home from the beginning. I was always thinking it,” he said.

“Then by the time I decided to go, it just felt right on that day. I woke up on that morning, if I’m being completely honest with you, and was like, ‘I need to go home. I just needed to be me now, because I’ve had enough,’”

Malik is a solo artiste now, having jumped from Simon Cowell’s record label to RCA.