It's been a while now since Zayn Malik quit One Direction - and his reasons for leaving are still a point of interest. Because, y'know, why would you leave one of the most adored groups in the known universe?
He's now told Dazed magazine just WHY he felt the need to quit - and it suddenly makes a load more sense.
"I just knew it was my time. I knew I wanted to do something different and start expressing the way I felt about certain things," he revealed.
"I know that musicians are seen as one-sided people a lot of the time. But we do have other elements to us as well. I didn't feel good. Do you know what I mean? And if you don't feel good... You need to be able to express what it is that you are. I'm free at last."
OK, so that's a pretty good reason for leaving one of the biggest bands OF ALL TIME. Especially considering the expectation of the Directioners who have been known to turn on people quite terrifyingly. Zayn was fully aware of this, and told the mag he was worried his fans would "freak out".
"I didn't know what to expect. I wanted to make that statement, that this was something completely separate from whatever was out there before. I kind of expected the fans that followed me before to be a bit freaked out by it.
"It was nerve-racking for me but it worked out for the best, because people started listening to it in a more mature context. The fans took things they liked from it ... and made sure to tell me about things they didn't like, on social media. But just getting it out there was the main thing."
Another thing that keeps Zayn awake at night is his fear of being a one-hit wonder. While not all of us can relate to that specifically, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't worry about failing - so we totally get you, Zayn. And his anxiety has clearly been a bit of a battle; he had to pull out of the Capital Summertime Ball last weekend because of it.
Speaking to Dazed he explained: "There was a lot of built-up anxiety to create this thing. You don't really know what's going to happen. So when that song [PILLOWTALK] went out, and I saw the reaction from the fans, that took a little weight off me for a bit. Obviously, there's still a lot of pressure. I don't want to be a one-hit wonder, so I've got a lot of work to do."
We hope he's making progress fighting his demons - there's no way Zayn'll be a one hit wonder!