Eight years since he left One Direction, Zayn Malik has revealed the real reason behind his decision to go solo.

In a rare interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast, the R&B singer admitted that he wanted to be the first person in the group to pursue a solo career.

“I completely selfishly wanted to be the first person to make their own record,” Zayn explained.

“I was like, ‘I’m going to jump the gun here for the first time,’” he said. “I’m passive but when it comes to my music and my business, I’m serious about it and I’m competitive. I wanted to be the first to go and do my own thing.”

Zayn added that there were some “underlying issues” within the group, too.

“We’d been together every day for five years and we got sick of each other, if I’m being completely honest,” he said, referring to his former bandmates Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson.

“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,” he added.

Zayn, 30, left One Direction in 2015 allegedly due to stress. He released his debut album, Mind of Mine, in 2016.

During the interview — which marked his first in six years — Zayn also opened up about being a first-time father. The “Pillowtalk” singer shares a daughter, Khai, with his ex-girlfriend, supermodel Gigi Hadid. The couple split up for good in October 2021, after being on-and-off for six years.

“Since I’ve had my daughter, the main thing in my mind is trying to be a good example to her,” he said. 

“That’s why I’m even doing this interview, you know? I used to get a lot of anxiety around having a conversation like this. And I want her to be able to look at me and be like, ‘My dad’s doing this.’”

Zayn appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast to promote his new single “Love Like This.”