all my life i want money & power

Asked about his religion in 2012, Zayn shared: “I believe that your religion should be between you and whoever your belief is in. I don’t think you should stick it in people’s faces.” Unfortunately the world has not allowed him to keep any aspect of his life private, and even his limited tweets about religion have attracted scrutiny and hatred, surely encouraging him to stay quiet. Small actions to educate his fanbase on social issues through a “#FreePalestine” tweet and a retweet in support of Peshawar were heavily dissected, with some media outlets suggesting Zayn was interested in these issues because he was more personally connected to them as a Muslim man—as if natural compassion played no role. Despite the hatred he faces for it, Zayn has publicly taken pride in his identity: In his recent Asian Award acceptance speech, he thanked his parents for making him Asian in addition to thanking God. On the Islamophobic comments targeted at him, Zayn stated: “I thought we had moved away from that and we’re living in the 21st century and people could accept people from different religions.” Because of his introverted nature and status as One Direction’s sole person of color, Zayn has always felt the sting of criticism more intensely than the rest of the band. When a video of Zayn and Louis smoking marijuana leaked online Zayn received the most backlash, regardless of the fact that Louis used a racial slur (“nig”). He’s also been villainized throughout coverage of his breakup with Perrie Edwards. Despite frequently coming to his bandmates’ defense, Zayn was marketed from the beginning as the “Bradford Bad Boy” and as the group’s moody, mysterious member. The leaked promotional presentation for One Direction’s movie This Is Us framed him as the “poser,” “dark horse,” and “vulnerable player” in contrast to the unambiguously positive descriptions of his white bandmates’ personalities. Curious how the only brown guy in the group gets the worst narrative. The reverberations of these instilled perceptions have played out quite clearly in the media reaction to Zayn’s departure from the group. Zayn has faced countless parody songs and taunting tweets suggesting he’s a terrorist and joking about him leaving 1D to join ISIS. Right-wing bloggers have accused Zayn of “boyband jihad”, and gossip bloggers have suggested his actions have stirred up trouble in the band. One of the most egregious media comments was Bill Maher’s remark comparing Zayn’s appearance to Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokar Tsarnev, a “joke” that was not only hateful and Islamophobic but also alarmingly divorced from reality. Imagine a similar situation: Say Harry Styles had left the band, and a TV host had joked about him leaving to join the KKK. The international community would instantly denounce such comments. They might say the quip was not funny and the host ought to spend time thinking of more creative jokes. A lot of the discussion about the outrage Maher sparked was instead dismissive, focusing on the frenzied fans mad at him for insulting their idol rather than on the people very reasonably offended by his discriminatory words. One Direction’s fan base is predominantly teenage girls, which leads many people to regard their complaints as hormonal drivel and dismiss their love of Zayn as meaningless adolescent passion even as his critics remain blatantly uninformed and offensive. Furthermore, while leaving One Direction has exposed Zayn to a whole new demographic of fans who respect his decision to embark on a new creative adventure, it has also caused some people to turn on him. He’s seen by many as a disruption to the social order of the One Direction fanbase, and fans seem to be condemning his efforts to break out as an urban solo act because they only want him to be successful if he is a puppet of the One Direction brand. While fans advocated for Zayn to speak up more while he was a part of the band, now that he has finally gained the confidence to defend himself against hatred they are misconstruing his actions as audacious and traitorous. Meanwhile, blogs speculate Zayn is “self-destructing” simply because he’s become more outspoken and made new friends. Strangely enough, aside from Liam, Zayn’s former bandmates have never publicly defended him from discrimination. Perhaps that’s the result of their PR team’s instructions, but it is sad to see that the issue has largely been swept under the rug. The objective for the One Direction machine has always been to make as much money as possible in the shortest amount of time—not to make much of a social or political impact. But Zayn has the potential to do exactly that. That being said, Zayn leaving his band does not signify his complete abandonment of the entertainment industry. Recently he was a front row fixture at Paris Fashion Week, and he’s been busy recording in LA. He has a new team at RCA who will hopefully help him share his true self with the world. It will be exciting to see what that looks like now that he is liberated from the constraints of being a part of One Direction, a brand that overworked him (and the other boys), repressed his creativity, and marketed him like an exotic toy. Additionally his image will not be tied to four other people’s, allowing him to make impactful statements and strengthen his ties with the Muslim and Asian communities if he wishes to. Zayn is currently a proud ambassador for the British Asian Trust, and he made his first public appearance since leaving One Direction at the Asian Awards, where he was honored with The Outstanding Achievement in Music Award. Shah Rukh Khan, the “King of Bollywood”, had nothing but kind words to say about Zayn at the event, and the pair’s selfie became India’s most retweeted tweet. Additionally, Zayn landed his first solo magazine cover at Asians UK Magazine. He seems to be very happy and in his element when interacting with members of his community. The possibilities as to how Zayn will further influence both his community and the art world are endless, and I look forward to seeing what brilliance he has in store. As Zayn said in his Asian Award acceptance speech, “Here’s to the future.

stop telling people to respect all opinions