Zayn Malik has spoken about why he left One Direction and his time in the chart-topping band.

The East Bowling singer said he "kind of always wanted to go" from the first year.

"I never really wanted to be there in the band. I just gave it a go because it was there at the time," the 23-year-old said.

He said in the early 1D days it was "crazy" that five people were sat in a room trying to write songs and they didn't really know what they wanted to say.

"I didn't want to be the one to say I was right, because who am I to say that?"

Zayn said others in and around the group knew that One Direction's music wasn't really his style.

"When I was leaving the band, they obviously didn't want me to leave, but they couldn't talk me out of it at that point, I'd already made my mind up, so I just left," he said.

Zayn, who quit the band last year, was speaking to Beats 1 Radio’s Zane Lowe. The interview, recorded in Bradford, was aired this morning.

He was also due to appear on The Graham Norton Show on Friday night but cancelled due to scheduling issues.

Zayn was going to be promoting his new single, Pillow Talk.