Billboard magazine have published their interview with former One Direction star Zayn Malik, and it's sending the Internet into quite a tizzy.

The cover star, who signed to RCA Records as a solo artist after departing the boyband last year, certainly plays up his 'bad boy' image, drinking whiskey and smoking during the interview – but below, you'll find the main points of interest.

1) His solo debut album is due in spring and sounds 'very different' to his One Direction stuff; song titles include 'She', 'BeFour', 'Wrong' and 'It's You'.

2) He went camping in the woods with his producer in search of inspiration:

“We went camping for a week in the Angeles Forest -- set up a generator and a tent so we could track in the woods,” says producer James “Malay” Ho (who has become Malik’s main collaborator, Malay believes, due to his Grammy-winning work on Frank Ocean's Channel Orange). “It was the complete opposite of what he’d been doing. We had the gas grill, BB guns, bows and arrows. It was a shittin’-in-the-woods-type thing.”

3) He's been blanked by some of his former band members since leaving:

“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.”

4) He didn't buy One Direction's latest album:

“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.”

5) He possibly took a wee dig at his former fianceé Perrie Edwards when discussing his taste in women:

“I need a challenge. Also, I like girls that are a bit chunky in certain areas -- the nice areas. I like a fuller woman. I enjoy an intellectual conversation as well, where someone can construct a sentence beyond what hair and makeup they’re wearing, and talk about something political or about the world. I like an opinion.”

6) He smokes sativa:

“He even smokes pot with a degree of ambition -- Malik only burns sativa (the more energizing, cerebral strain of marijuana), because it’s “creative weed.”

 

Read the full version at Billboard here.