He had such an interesting approach to music in every sense. He was an incredible artist and he knew how to make insane music with the ability that he had. I’ve always respected his lyricism and his ability to convey depth in real-life experiences - Zayn about Mac Miller

Zayn played ‘Keep Ya Head Up’ by Tupac stating that he is one of the greatest rappers to ever exist. He mentions how Tupac was a very poignant figure whilst he was growing up in Bradford and a lot of people, including him, looked up to Tupac.

Zayn played Befour, mentioning he wrote the song with Malay Ho who worked with artists he looked up such as Frank Ocean so he was super excited. He mentions having recorded and cut the song in Vegas, inspired by the lights and the hustle and bustle.

Zayn Malik played ‘Bust Your Windows’ by Jazmine Sullivan stating she is an incredible vocalist and artist which reminds him of a certain time in his life and he think of things fondly when he hears her music and ends with ‘Thank you Jazmine’.

Zayn mentions Icarus Falls as an interesting album to record as he was figuring out where he wanted to take his music and what genres he wanted to explore, recording around 80 songs before having the cut them down which lead to Icarus Falls being a two-part album.

Zayn played ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ stating how it’s interesting to play this song on Radio 1 due to the lack of Bollywood songs. He notes this as the first Bollywood song that comes to his mind when he thinks of his childhood and considers it to be a classic, staple song.

Zayn fangirling over the Gorillaz concepts naming them as one of his favourite bands of all time!

Zayn mentions how Devlin stood out to him due to his lyricism, tone, clarity and phonetic approach, highlighting how professional he was, writing & recording his verse in 24 hours, and how working with Devlin felt like a street-cred moment for him especially amongst his friends.

Zayn mentions how ‘Eyes Closed’ was originally meant to have another feature for being held due to the feature falling through before Jisoo contacted him for a feature which lead to the song making its way back with Jisoo recording her vocals and Zayn re-recording his.

Zayn saying big love before reminding everyone he’s a Bradford Ambassador and that they should go give it a deeks (Geordie slang for a look at).

Amazing vocalist and artist. Really interesting story, interesting dude. I listened to a lot of his music growing up in Bradford and was inspired by the vocal runs and ad-libs, just that little bit of extra sexy swagger that he used to bring to his music. - Zayn about D’Angelo

I remember this song coming out during high school cause I was going on a school trip, think we went to Flamingo Land, and I had these ridiculous speakers with me that took 75 batteries. I loved that kind of music, they were like my cool days - Zayn about Lil Wayne ‘Mrs. Officer’

Zayn has shared this video of him praising RAYE vocals and lyricism, stating he feels like she’s an amazing artist onto his Instagram story!

Just two Bradford Babes making a radio show for BBC Radio 1 ✨💁🏻‍♀️ - Zayn’s radio takeover was produced by Amn Kaur who highlights this as a career highlight!

For everyone who questions the spelling of my name, as you can see #ZAYN loves it so… 🤷🏻‍♀️ - Amn Kaur via Instagram

Our #ZAYN takeover special for BBC Radio 1 is available now on BBC Sounds. Produced by Amn Kaur, it celebrates Zayn’s musical journey from Bradford to global superstardom - audioalways Via Instagram

I’m not always great. I’m not a finished article. I’m not always perfect but I try and I have intent in the right place and I feel like I love and if you can accept that, then this is What I Am. - Zayn talking about his album on Room Under the Stairs and single What I Am.

Zayn’s debut single PILLOWTALK is now #BRITcertified 3x Platinum - huge congratulations to zayn 🎉

One year ago today, Zayn officially embarked on the UK leg of his first solo tour ‘Stairway to the Sky’

One year ago today, Zayn performed ‘Pillowtalk’ for the first time ever in his career.