Zayn Malik “almost cried” as he paid tribute to One Direction 10 years after leaving the band. The 32-year-old singer was performing in Mexico on his Stairway To The Sky tour and opened the show on Tuesday night (Mar 25) with a rendition of One Direction’s hit, Night Changes.
After the performance – which has been shared on social media – Malik said: “It’s the first time I sang that song in 10 years.
“Thank you, that was f*****g amazing. I almost cried at one point. This is insane.”
The performance fell on the 10th anniversary of the day Malik quit One Direction after five years in the group alongside Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and the late Liam Payne.
In a Facebook statement on Mar 25, 2015, the Pillow Talk hitmaker wrote: “My life with One Direction has been more than I could ever have imagined. But, after five years, I feel like it is now the right time for me to leave the band.
“I’d like to apologise to the fans if I’ve let anyone down, but I have to do what feels right in my heart. I am leaving because I want to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight.”
He reunited with bandmates Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson at Liam Payne’s funeral late last year.
After his friend’s death aged 31 in October, he paid tribute to Payne in an emotional statement
He wrote on Instagram: “Liam, I have found myself talking out loud to you, hoping you can hear me, I can’t help but think selfishly that there were so many more conversations for us to have in our lives.
