Zayn Malik teases new song, opens up on experiencing racism during One Direction days
Zayn Malik has teased a new song and opened up on experiencing racism during his One Direction days.
The Bradford singer took to social media to share a snippet of upcoming song ‘Fuchsia Sea’, which he promised was “coming soon”. It’s currently unclear whether it’s an official remix of the song of the same name on his most recent album, 2024’s ‘Room Under The Stairs’.
The song sees Malik rapping over an old school hip-hop instrumental, where Malik opens up about his experiences with racism while performing with One Direction. Malik is of Pakistani descent on his father’s side.
On ‘Fuchsia Sea’, Malik intones: “I worked hard in a white band / And they still laughed at the Asian.” It nods to several occasions where Malik was targeted for his heritage. US television host Bill Maher once compared Malik’s appearance to a terrorist, while Malik has spoken out about his experiences with online hate and racism in 2012.
“Nasty things [were said] like I’m a terrorist, and this and that,” he told The Sun in 2012. “How can you justify that? How can you call me that and get away with it?”
Listen to ‘Fuchsia Sea’ below:
Recently, Zayn Malik performed One Direction’s ‘Night Changes’ for the first time in ten years. He did so during his first-ever arena show as a solo artist at Mexico City’s Palacio De Los Deportes on March 25.
It also marks nearly a decade to the day of the singer announcing his departure from the boy band, and marked the first time he has sung any One Direction song in the time since.
Clips of Malik performing the track on social media showed him telling the crowd: “I haven’t sung this song in 10 years. Thank you, that was amazing, I almost cried…”
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Alex Rigotti
NME
