#11.06.19

Louis in Wired’s Autocomplete Interview | posted November 6, 2019

BANG SHOWBIZ / 06 November 2019

Zayn Malik has teased the artwork for his new single 'Flames' on social media

The former One Direction star – who stylises his name to just ZAYN – returned to social media after a month away to announce he has teamed up with R3hab and Jungleboi on the new track, which is "coming soon" and available to pre-save on Spotify now.

Alongside the artwork he simply wrote on Instagram: "FLAMES."

The upcoming track is the first from the 'PillowTalk' hitmaker since his 2018 album 'Icarus Falls'.

All of the One Direction lads have had new music out over the past couple of months.

Harry Styles – who has just announced his second solo album 'Fine Line' – dropped 'Lights Up' last month, Niall put out 'Nice to Meet Ya', Liam dropped 'Stack It Up' in September, and Louis released the singles 'Kill My Mind' and 'We Made It' from his upcoming debut solo record 'Walls'.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, Zayn admitted he felt ready to make his return to the stage.

The 26-year-old star has yet to perform a major solo concert and previously axed planned shows due to anxiety, but in January he took to Twitter to vow to his fans that he was eager to perform songs from 'Icarus Falls' live.

He wrote: "F*** me, I can not wait to get on stage ! Mans got tunes that bang for days ! Haha feelin ready (sic)"

However, he's yet to make his live comeback.

Zayn – who quit the chart-topping group in March 2015 – previously admitted one of the reasons for his anxiety around performing was not having worked out how to do a solo show which felt natural, especially as he only had one solo LP, 'Mind of Mine', to draw on at the time.

He explained: "Like, there were a lot of upbeat dance [songs on the album], and I don't dance, so it would have required a lot of extra dancers and stuff going on, and I don't necessarily want to do that."

The 'A Whole New World' singer wants everything he does to feel authentic, but hopes people don't think he's "arrogant".

He said: "I don't do things that I wouldn't buy into. I try to explain that to people and hope that they understand – it doesn't come from a place of being arrogant or above anything."