Singer Zayn Malik has said that he and his former One Direction bandmates seem to have lost touch following his departure from the group in March.
In an interview with US music magazine Billboard ahead of the release of his solo debut album in March, Malik said he wasn't sure he would have "four friends for life" as he had stated when he left One Direction.
"The truth of it is, you can think one thing about a situation and the total opposite can happen," he said. "I had every intention of remaining friends with everybody, but I guess certain phone numbers have changed and I haven't received calls from a lot of people. I've reached out to a few of them and not got a reply. Certain people have pride issues, but it's stuff you overcome in time."
The way they were
However, Malik stressed there was no rivalry between him and One Direction. "We're not going head-to-head," he said.
When asked for his thoughts about the latest One Direction album, Made in the A.M., which was recorded without him, Malik said he hadn't heard the full record.
"I'll be honest: I thought the first single was quite cool. I heard the second single and... [scrunching up face] yeah, I didn't buy the album."
On the subject of what he had achieved during his time with One Direction, Malik said: "Status. The capability to restrain certain things I would want to do. I also learned it's good to keep friends. Because you don't know when you're going to make new ones, so you should probably just keep the old ones."
