British singer and songwriter, Zain Javadd Malik, known professionally as Zayn Malik, has revealed that doesn’t know if he has “truly been in love”.

The 31-year-old singer was previously engaged to Perrie Edwards and has a three-year-old daughter, Khai with former partner Gigi Hadid, but he is unsure of the real depth of feeling he had in any of his past relationships.

“I don’t know if I’ve actually truly been in love at this point.”
Zayn Malik

Zayn has “moved on” since splitting with Gigi in October 2021 but their break-up has influenced a number of the tracks on his new album ‘Room Under the Stairs’.

“The first song that I wrote on the record was ‘Alienated,’ and it was towards the end of my relationship. Like when me and my ex were breaking up. So there’s the heavy narrative of the kinds of things I was going through mentally in that situation and what I was thinking and how I was feeling.
“I think in that song specifically I’m talking about not being able to explain to the person that you’re in love with why it is that you necessarily can’t be the best version of the partner you want to be. And that’s a really sad thing.”
Zayn Malik

Meanwhile, although little Khai is already showing signs of musical talent, the former One Direction star believes she’s inherited it from her model mother, not him.

“She can play a little bit. She’s not at expert level, but she’s got a bit of rhythm when she’s hitting the drums. I can tell that she definitely can develop that into something.
“Her mom was good at Guitar Hero on the drums. I was like, ‘Maybe she got that from her mom.’ Because I was diabolical at it, and G used to beat me all the time. I used to be like, ‘What the f***. I’m the musician, and she beats me at this game.’ But Khai‘s got that too.”
Zayn Malik

Zayn Malik Shares Biggest ‘One Direction’ Regret

In recent years, Zayn has been more willing to talk about his time in ‘One Direction’. He chose to leave the band in 2015 and they eventually disbanded in 2016, just a year after his departure.

Ahead of his fourth album release, Zayn revealed what he was grateful for today.

“The main thing that I always feel bad about is, when I look back over my life, is not enjoying the band enough.”
Zayn Malik

He stated that while he was in ‘One Direction’ he took things too seriously and always looked at things with a “glass half empty” mindset. But now he actively chooses to see things as “glass half full” and accredited the shift in his mindset to his daughter.

In September 2020, Zayn and his then-girlfriend Gigi Hadid welcomed their daughter Khai. “I feel like my daughter brought that back for me, like brought that color back into my life,” he said.

Zayn explained how looking back at himself while he was in ‘One Direction’ he felt he never truly tried to be happy, describing himself as a “negative cloud of energy”.

The ‘What I Am’ singer explained that he didn’t understand the importance of just trying to be happy.

“I had this like teen angst thing going on, a chip on my shoulder where I’m like ‘it’s really cool to just be moody as f**k all the time’, you know what I mean? And it’s not, you’re just a loser.”
Zayn Malik

So in summary Zayn’s time in the band now allows him to be grateful for the power of a positive mindset, that’s pretty beautiful and his fans would agree.