23 Facts We Learned From Zayn's Book

Earlier this month, Zayn Malik, also simply known as ZAYN, released a very personal memoir. In his new book, he goes into detail about his upbringing, family, his time in One Direction, why he ultimately left 1D, his anxiety, and a whole lot more. 

[Buy Zayn's book here]

For example, did you know he's a Shania Twain fan? That he loves chicken wings? That he played Danny Zuko in his school's production of Grease? After reading Zayn's book, we learned  A LOT about the 23-year-old singer/songwriter from Bradford, England -- including the fact that he's already working on his second album. Check it out below:

23 Facts We Learned From Zayn's Book:

1. He ultimately left One Direction because the style of music he wanted to create was not in line with the rest of the band.

"One Direction made great pop, there's no denying that. But it's no secret that that kind of pop music really isn't my thing and towards the end of my time with the band, I was becoming more and more desperate to express my own style and write lyrics about stuff that I really believed in, rather than the melodies and beats that were being made for us in One Direction." He added, "I wanted to be in the studio singing lyrics that resonated with me, not just repeating someone else's lines."

2. He's still really proud of his 1D days.

"I can honestly say I'm proud of a lot of stuff from the One Direction days. I'm not sure people realize that, but I am. I've got the memorabilia - the platinum discs we received with every album all over my house. I have a wall dedicated to displaying them. One Direction was an incredible experience in its own right, and it's a part of me, and integral part of my history, and I'm never going to deny that aspect of my life."

3. He built a DIY bar in his backyard, and it's a tribute to his grandparents, who ran a pub called The Bradford Arms.

"I've built a boozer in my own back garden in London. I like to hang out there and have friends over. It doesn't look that special from the outside: basically, I just bought the biggest shed I could find from the local DIY superstore. It's sick. I've filled the place with all this memorabilia. I've got the same velvet curtains and Chesterfield sofa as my grandparents had back in the Bradford Arms. They even gave me the original sign from the pub."

4. Growing up, he was a little bit of a troublemaker in school, and even got in trouble for having a BB gun in class once.

"I was constantly getting into trouble. Once, when I was at Tong High School, I was collared for having a BB gun in class. It wasn't loaded or anything, but me waving it around didn't go down too well."

5. He also used to wear the blazer of his school uniform like a rebel.

"I hated school uniform, and all the rules, having to wear a tie and sh*t. But when I sussed out that there were no rules regarding how we wore our school blazers, I would walk around the place with one arm in a sleeve, the other out, with my jacket dangling over a shoulder." 

6. If he wasn't doing music, he would love to go back to school.

"It would also be cool to go back to university to study English. Believe it or not, I actually did pretty well academically at school, despite being a bit of an idiot in other areas. I was pulled out of education after my GCSEs, but I've always wanted to take my A-levels and go on to do a degree. That was always my plan when I was a kid, before X Factor and One Direction ever happened: to go to university and study English. And I'd love to see it through." 

7. He's a boxer.

"Boxing didn't just change me physically. It shifted my mental attitude as well, and there were some lessons learned along the way. Ironically, I think the most important lesson of all was that I was taught how not to fight."

8. He played the role of Danny Zuko in his school production of Grease.

"When I was twelve or thirteen, I started doing theatre studies, and I found a lot of peace in acting - it was amazing and I loved it. I got so into it that I landed the role of Danny Zuko in the school production of Grease."

9. Somewhere out there are a few songs that Zayn wrote and recorded for a girl he had a crush on in school. And no, she didn't return his affection. 

"One time I wrote and sang a couple of songs for a girl I quite fancied. I recorded them and left the tape in her locker at lunchtime. I prayed and prayed she would like them. No comment. Looking back, I guess they were pretty f***ing embarrassing. I hope she's thrown that tape in the bin rather than kept hold of the songs. I'm not sure I'd like to see them pop up online."

10. He loves chicken wings from the Beverly Hills Hotel.

"I've been living here [in LA] for the past year now, first at some rental houses which I got chucked out of for playing music too loud, then at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where a lot of Mind of Mine was written and a lot of room-service chicken wings were consumed - seriously, they're like the greatest thing ever; I still order them to my house now - and then in my own place in Bel Air."

11. His Met Gala outfit was inspired by Moral Kombat.

"The theme of the 2016 Met Gala was Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology, which gave me the opportunity to design an outfit with Versace that reflects one of my biggest interests, digital animation. As an avid fan of video-game super heroes, I thought I would base it loosely on Mortal Kombat."

12. He learned to shoot a bow and arrow while out camping in the woods, recording parts of his album.

"I had never fired an arrow from a bow before, and one day I decided to give it a go. I really got into it, and it became the thing I did to keep myself entertained. I'd go out into the woods, using the trees as a target and fire. Within two weeks, I swear my arms had bulked up from pulling back the bowstring so much. My aim was pretty sharp, too, if I do say so myself."

13. "Flower" was inspired by his dad, and after listening to music from Pakistani musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (whose music his father played at home), and was recorded in the Urdu language. Here is the translation of the lyrics:

"Until the flower of this love has blossomed/This heart wont't be at peace/Give me your heart...'"

14. Right before he started to work on "BeFoUr," he was partying with Big Sean and Skrillex in Las Vegas.

"The entire crew went out that night to Drai's, where Big Sean was performing. We had a few drinks and headed back to the hotel. We ended up throwing a massive party in the suite, there were probably about 150 people there - somehow. I think Skrillex shoed up, if my memory serves me correctly. And at one point in the night, I remember turning to Malay and just saying, 'I've been here before, but not like this.'" He adds, "When Malay [Zayn's producer] heard me say that lyric, his eyes lit up and he said let's go to the studio."

15. He recorded a rock-style song called "Dragonfly" that didn't make it on to Mind of Mine.

"The track was loud, with a rocky sort of vibe: pounding drums, hard guitars - it was heavy-metal sh*t. The only reason it didn't make the album was that it didn't fit with the rest of the tracks on there, but I might release it at some point in the future. I might even give it someone else for them to record, who knows?"

16. Instead of just using a shaker or maraca, some of the percussion sounds on "iT's YoU" are literally the ends of a $20 bill being rubbed together.

"I handed one [$20 bill] over and before I could even ask what he [his producer] was doing, he was rubbing the two ends of the note together to make this soft, shaking sound. Then he distorted the recording to make it sound like a weird maraca."

**BTW, Zayn never got his $20 back.

17. He suffered from an eating disorder.

"When I look back at images of myself from around November 2014, before the final tour, I can see how ill I was. Something I've never talked about in public before, but which I have come to terms with since leaving the band, is that I was suffering from an eating disorder. It wasn't as though I had any concerns about my weight or anything like that, I'd just go for days - sometimes two or three days straight - without eating anything at all. It got quite serious, although at at the time I didn't recognize it for what it was. I think it was about control. I didn't feel like I had control over anything else in my life, but food was something I could control, so I did." 

18. He's a Shania Twain fan.

"I'm into everything, and my tastes aren't that specific - in fact, they've got broader and broader as I've got older. I like Mariah Carey and Shania Twain; I like Johnny Cash and a lot of other country artists. My influences come from many places. As long as it's a good tune, I'm into it."

19. He has a lot of interesting things laying around in his house, including crossbows and a go-kart.

"I've got a lot of crazy stuff in my house - crossbows, Marvel comics signed by Stan Lee, flags, dirt bikes, and a go-kart with a big 'Z' painted on the front."

20. He learned to play the guitar when he was 18, and actually plays guitar on "Intermission: Flower."

"I've been lucky enough to work up some guitar parts that later made it on to Mind of Mine. I got a riff on to 'Intermission: Flower'. When you listen to the track, maybe you can hear me playing away."

21. He has a whole room in his house dedicated to graffiti.

"Once I'd bought my own place in London, I decided to dedicate one room to graffiti. I figured I could never do this at Mum's house in Bradford - but there's no reason I couldn't do it in mine."

22. He broke through his anxiety only 30 minutes before his iHeartAwards performance.

"Probably one of the worst experiences of anxiety I had pre-Wembley was in the lead-up to the iHeartRadio Music Awards in LA, not long after the album was released. I'd got myself into this headspace where I was just like, 'No way. I can't do it. I'm not doing it.' Out of nowhere, I felt totally paralyzed. My whole team came around to the house. They were trying to shake me out of it, but, for the longest time, I just couldn't see how I was going to do it. Then something clicked, and about thirty minutes before the show I managed to break through that wall, or whatever it was, and I did it. I felt sick. I was vomiting backstage before the performance, but I remember coming off after singing feeling so elated. It was so awesome playing that gig, the crowd was so supportive and it was like a huge victory for me: I hadn't let my anxiety get the better of me; I'd done it. That was probably one of the best nights I've had in LA"

23. He almost pulled out of his iHeartRadio Album Release Party (which was one of his first solo performances), but his fans who camped out overnight motivated him to perform.

"So far, I'd always managed to pull myself out of my anxiety attacks. I'd find the strength to psych myself up. Sometimes, something random would get me through it, like the time when I felt so sick with nerves I nearly pulled out of iHeart in New York on the day Mind of Mine was being released. A member of my team showed me a picture of the fans camped outside, the same fans I had sent doughnuts and coffee to the night before, and I just knew I had to do it, for them, if not for me. I had to convince myself to be a performer."

Check out some of his performance from his iHeartRadio Album Release Party below:

Photos: Getty Images