On March 25, One Direction member Zayn Malik announced that he was leaving the band. Originally, it was stated that Malik wanted a break from the world tour the group is currently on, but later according to a letter posted to the group’s Facebook page, he explained that he was leaving for good and that the reason he was leaving was because he wanted to be a normal 22-year-old.

In 2010, Malik auditioned for the British singing talent show, The X-Factor. He was eliminated before the final round of the competition, but X-Factor judge Simon Cowell decided that he should continue in a group with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson. The group ended up placing third, but Cowell still signed them to Syco Records, a British record label company founded by Cowell in 2002.

Interestingly enough, a few weeks before Malik left, it was announced that Simon Cowell had cleared him to work on a solo album. It is still unclear if those plans are to move forward officially. However, on March 31, a song performed by Malik was leaked by British music producer Sahid Khan, known as Naughty Boy. According to Entertainment Tonight, the song, titled I Won’t Mind, is speculated to have been recorded long before Malik reached the decision to leave the band. However, former bandmate Louis Tomlinson exchanged words on Twitter with Khan, expressing his distaste that he would leak this song so soon after Malik left the band. Incidentally, Malik was spotted leaving Naughty Boy’s studio in March, and people speculate that this is a sign that he will continue with his solo career. Malik has provided no comment.