Zayn Malik has admitted One Direction were "sick of each other" by the time he left the group.
The British singer was put with Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson to form One Direction on The X Factor U.K. in 2010. After several years of phenomenal success, Zayn shocked fans in March 2015 when he announced he was quitting the band, which went on an indefinite hiatus the following year.
In his first interview in six years, the 30-year-old admitted that he got out of the group because he felt like "something was happening" and he wanted to be the first to release solo music.
"I don't want to go into too much detail, but there was a lot of politics going on, certain people were doing certain things, certain people didn't want to sign contracts, so I knew something was happening so I just got ahead of the curve... I was like, 'I'm just going to get out of here, I think this is done,'" she recalled on the Call Her Daddy podcast on Wednesday.
"I just seen it (coming) and I completely selfishly wanted to be the first person to go and make my own record. If I'm being completely honest with you, I was like, 'I'm going to jump the gun here.'"
He added, "There was obviously underlying issues within our friendships, too. We'd been together every day for five years, and we got sick of each other, if I'm being completely honest."
The Pillowtalk singer, who launched his solo career in 2016, noted that the band members were "close" and had "great times" together but their stint as a five-piece had "run (its) course".
"I look back on it now in a much fonder light than I would have (when) I'd just left," he stated.
Zayn is gearing up to make his solo comeback with the single Love Like This, which will be released on 21 July.
