Another day, another revelatory Zayn Malik cover story — and even more bridge-burning when it comes to his former band, One Direction.

As the boy bander-turned-newly solo superstar continues to prep for his debut, Zayn's taking some time to reflect on his time with 1D, as well as their output since his departure. And no, he didn't hear Made In The A.M.: 'I’ll be honest. I thought the first single was quite cool. I heard the second single and' -- he screws up his face -- 'yeah, I didn’t buy the album,'" he says in his Billboard cover story, released today (January 7).

And although he tweeted about his "four friends for life" upon exiting the group, he reveals after a few months that the sentiment might not hold true after all. "'The truth of it is,' he says carefully, 'you can think one thing about a situation and the total opposite can happen. I had every intention of remaining friends with everybody, but I guess certain phone numbers have changed and I haven’t received calls from a lot of people. I’ve reached out to a few of them and not got a reply. Certain people have pride issues, but it’s stuff you overcome in time.'"

The cover story reveals plenty of sneak-peeks at Zayn's upcoming solo work, dropping three track titles ("the sour synth of 'BeFour,' a sweep of strings in 'It’s You,' the whip-crack snare of 'Wrong') and likening the sound to Drake and The Weeknd — a sound that the rest of the 1D gang wasn't as much into: “I genuinely enjoyed [the band] and did whatever I could to be myself within that, but it’s just not where I sit as a musician. The other boys’ taste was generally indie rock. It’s good music, but I don’t f--- with it. That was never cool where I was from," he explains.

Check out the rest of the story over at Billboard, and watch out for Zayn's sure-to-be cool #realmusic to drop in 2016.

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