March 25th 2015. It's a date that's permanently engraved on our brain as the day the world officially ended. Or, if you wanna be slightly less melodramatic about it, the day Zayn Malik announced he was leaving One Direction to be a 'normal 22-year-old.'
But how long in the making was Zayn's departure? Well according to producer-type MNEK he'd already been working on solo stuff way before he said 'see ya later' to Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson.
MNEK's the fella behind loads of your favourite tracks - from Little Mix's new tune Touch to Never Forget You with Zara Larsson; and you've got him to thank for Zayn's debut single PILLOWTALK. Y'know, that song they were working on while he was still in the band?
Chatting to i-D mag, MNEK explained: "At the time he was still in One Direction, so I wasn't sure if what we were doing made sense. I didn't understand what was actually going on at the time - when we made Pillowtalk there was no plan, it was just us in the studio with [producers] MYKL.
"There was no plan, it was just okay let's make a plan. There was no talk of him going solo or working on an album. It was the most random thing."
So there you go. Zayn was absolutely plotting his solo career while still on tour with the boys.
MNEK also revealed how the pair's collab first came about, if you're interested. He said: "I used to work at a studio called F Block and at the time Zayn was working there with Naughty Boy.
"So I met him just through being at the same studio, then I didn't work for him for months and then randomly he passed by the studio and heard a track and that's where things really took off."
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