Zayn Malik has broken his silence on why he left One Direction. The 22-year-old singer announced his decision to quit the boyband this week, leaving the fans in shock. But the young singer said in his recent interview with a British newspaper that that he is feeling good about about his decision. Whatever he is doing is right for him and his bandmates, he said.

The main reason Zayn left the boyband was because he was just not happy doing what he was doing since quite some time now. He did try to stick around for a while trying to please others and “mainly his fans” but then he could not carry on any longer. The singer is quite upset about the fact that he has let his fans down.

“And I only ever tried to do it for the fans, and it was only ever for them. And, basically, I’m only upset I feel like I may have let them down in some sort of way,” Zayn is quoted as saying in an exclusive interview with The Sun, (via MTV News.) Thousands of girl fans of Zayn took to Twitter to express their disappointment about his exit. The tweets mainly consisted on how their lives will never be same now that there is no Zayn in One Direction.

The singer was anticipating such a response from his fans too, though he did not want it to happen. His message for his fans is that he has not turned his “back on them or anything, it’s just that I just can’t do that anymore because it’s not real to me.” So what is the reaction of his bandmates on his decision to quit?

Zayn told the website that the remaining four members of the group – Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan understand and respect his decision to quit and “have been been cool about it.” Zayn also added that his bandmates “understand that, you know, it’s not real to me anymore.” He also added that One Direction will “carry on doing what they want to do” and will “do OK for a while.”

The website also added that Zayn has recorded a new song for Naughty Boy, a.k.a. Shahid Khan and will feature on his next album. The singer did not dish out many details about what the future holds for him but said that he will lead a normal life, away from the “spotlight,” for some time. Various websites also posted pictures of Zayn heading to a London studio on Thursday and there are speculations in the media that he will work on his solo album in future.

For any questions/comments on the article, you may contact the writer at: n.tewari@ibtimes.com.au