On March 25, 2015, I awoke to the news that Zayn Malik had quit One Direction.
To put it mildly, I was devastated. I cried and skipped class to mourn. Ultimately, I hulked out and ripped his poster off my dorm room wall.
Malik professed a need for privacy and mental rejuvenation as a reason for his exit, and I fully understand that desire.
Constantly having to deal with intense fandom and Twitter bereavement is a hell I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
Still, the timing of Malik’s exodus (which came midway through a world tour) seemed intentionally z
spiteful.
In the year and a half since leaving the band, Malik has been peppering publications like NME and Billboard with zingers about his lack of enthusiasm for One Direction and his negative feelings towards pop music in general.
The not-so-thinly-veiled insults that featured prominently in almost every interview were mixed in with Zayn’s new narrative of burgeoning solo stardom.
And still the narrative continues. Last week, it was announced that Zayn Malik would be collaborating with Law & Order creator Dick Wolf in an NBC drama. The show will be based on Malik’s experiences in One Direction and promises to showcase the many pressures of boy-band fame.
The upcoming drama, which will be called ”Boys,” couldn’t possibly say anything that Malik hasn’t already covered. And while there’s a chance the NBC show will unveil some prophetic insights into the dark side of undying teenage girl love, I doubt it will say anything the Justin Bieber movie didn’t already make clear.
As for the dark, juicy secrets of the boyband circuit: there’s no sex-filled tour story One Direction can shock me with that I haven’t already heard from the Rolling Stones or Aerosmith.
It’s been a year and a half coming, but I’m officially done with Zayn Malik whining about One Direction.
I get it — he didn’t like being in the band, and he wants everyone to stop associating him with fluffy pop music.
The thing he hasn’t quite seemed to grasp is this: in order for me to stop thinking about the fact that he was in One Direction, he has to stop bringing it up every chance he gets.
Perhaps the need to keep talking about his boyband days comes from a fear that he can’t stand on his own.
Of course, the fear is entirely unfounded — his 2016 album “Mind of Mine” debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making Malik the first British male solo act in history to top the American charts with a debut album.
After dropping his metaphorical ex, Malik has started to seem like a lovesick heroine in a ‘90’s romcom.
If there’s anything Meg Ryan movies taught me, it’s that there is always a moment when brutal honesty is needed.
In the case of Zayn Malik, it’s high time someone told him to grow up, move on and let go of One Direction.
rjdague@indiana.edu
