Zayn opens up about why he finally decided to go solo: 'I knew it was my time'

Zayn Malik says it felt like the time was right to go solo last year.

The singer left One Direction in spring 2015 and exactly one year later he unleashed his debut album 'Mind of Mine'.

Speaking to Dazed, the Brit said it was natural for him to go solo and express his creativity.

Malik said: "I just knew it was my time. I knew I wanted to do something different and start expressing the way I felt about certain things."

The singer joined up with RCA Records - a label he has been a fan of for years.

He added: "I have always liked that label, just because they signed f*cking Elvis and a lot of people I look up to. I went and met with Pete [Edge, CEO] and we had a couple conversations and I really liked his vibe.

"They seemed to treat me as though I was an artist for the first time, which felt really cool. And they respected the music. I had written a lot of it before I went with RCA and they liked where I was going and wanted to give me freedom so I was like, ‘Cool'."

Watch Zayn in action below: