The One Direction mantel has well and truly come off - now that Zayn has had enough of being a 'normal' bloke in his twenties. 

Announcing his exciting news via Twitter, he said: 

Then he tweeted this photo and promptly made it his profile pic.

Since his announcement, he's been busy retweeting the innumerable tweets that sprung forth as a result. When Directioners took umbrage to his use of the word "real", he retweeted this fan's - eh - explanation...

Other posts he chose to retweet include...

And, more tellingly...

Here's the real leveller, however. If things go accordingly, there's no chance of Zayn being a "normal 22-year-old" ever again...