Zayn Malik Changes His Tune On One Direction

Ever since the unthinkable happened when Zayn Malik quit One Direction back in March 2015, rumors have been flying that the fivesome-turned-foursome would eventually reunite and all would be right in the world. Whether the "Zayn Malik is rejoining 1D" gossip was based on boy band history (see: Backstreet Boys) or just blind hope, the singer himself seemed to squash all of the stories with a barrage of post-1D interviews in which he made it pretty clear that he didn't believe in the music the band was making and he didn't exactly keep in touch with the rest of the guys. (I believe the expression used here was "certain phone numbers have changed.") But now, in a new interview set to give hope to 1D fans all over the world, Zayn Malik hinted at a future One Direction reunion and it's all we can do to keep our arms and legs inside of the vehicle.

In an interview with Sunday Times Culture magazine, Malik — whose first solo single "Pillowtalk" debuts Friday and I can barely contain myself — told the interviewer that a One Direction reunion could happen "if the time was right." (I KNOW.)

"Who knows? I don't know. If the time was right and that was the thing to do, then I would make that decision when it came around," Malik said. Sure, this isn't a "Hell, yeah, can't wait to reunite with my best buds!" kind of response, but it certainly hints at the possibility of a reunion — something that seemed almost entirely off the table if you go by Malik's previous comments and behavior.

While it's entirely fair that he wanted to separate himself from One Direction after quitting the group, Malik certainly got real about how things were when he was in the band, referring to the frenzied experience of being in an overworked boy band as a "machine that's f*cking going constantly" to Billboard.

"We weren’t allowed to say certain things, or word [lyrics] the way we would want to. I’d sit and wonder, 'If the fans knew how it worked, what would they think?'" he said at the time. "My argument was: People are more intelligent than that. They want to hear what’s real, so why don’t we write some stuff that we’re actually going through?"

Not only were things were suffocating in his career, Malik told the magazine that he and the rest of the band weren't exactly on speaking terms after his departure — this of course after he and Louis Tomlinson duked it out on Twitter.

"The truth of it is you can think one thing about a situation and the total opposite can happen. I had every intention of remaining friends with everybody, but I guess certain phone numbers have changed and I haven’t received calls from a lot of people," Malik said. "I’ve reached out to a few of them and not got a reply. Certain people have pride issues, but it’s stuff you overcome in time."

While the guys of One Direction are all off doing their own things during their "hiatus" (Tomlinson just became a first-time dad and Harry Styles is busy yachting with Kendall Jenner), it's nice to hear that Malik is open to the idea of a full One Direction reunion in the future. Hopefully, the rest of the guys will feel the same.

Images: Giphy (2)