Zayn Malik discussed why he has to ‘continually go against the grain’ as he provided a rare insight into his life with GQ Spain and India, marking his first interview since becoming a parent. 

The singer, 28, who welcomed daughter Khai in September with his partner Gigi Hadid, reflected on his latest album, Nobody is Listening, in addition to his relationship with his fans and his quest for creative freedom. 

He said: ‘It really is not easy to have some form of creative freedom or control. 

‘The truth is that I have to continually go against the grain when people tell me to do things a certain way, but my stubbornness and my willingness to want to do things differently help me get through it.’

Speaking on his connection with his supporters, the former One Direction singer added: ‘I think the key when you talk to people is that you don’t generalize, you don’t say this person is a “fan” or this person is “this or that”, you just talk to everyone like normal people, people like you. 

‘My relationship with people is good, I like to talk to everyone equally, I don’t want to reduce anyone to just one thing. We are all people.’

Zayn released his third solo studio album titled Nobody Is Listening on January 15th and described it as his ‘most personal project to date,’ to Entertainment Daily

Explaining his reasoning behind the name, he continued to GQ: ‘I feel like, in general, no one is listening at the moment. 

‘With everything going on, and in a world of unnecessarily overexposed opinions, with people yelling at each other to see who makes the most noise, I feel like no one is being heard. People love to talk, but nobody likes to listen.’