His subsequent collaborative singles "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" with Taylor Swift and "Dusk Till Dawn" featuring Sia were met with international success.

[20] Despite being eliminated before the final round of the competition,[21] judges Nicole Scherzinger and Simon Cowell grouped him with fellow competitors Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson to form a new act for the remainder of the show, the boy band that would become known as One Direction.

Initially intended to be solely a UK tour, dates in North America and Australia were added due to demand.

[30] In September 2012, One Direction released "Live While We're Young", the lead single from their second album, and it reached the top ten in almost every country it charted in and recorded the highest one-week opening sales figure for a song by a non-US artist in the US at the time.

[51] In the band's official statement, Malik cited his desire to live as a "normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight", and denied rumours of any rift between the members, explaining that they had been supportive of the decision.

[58][59] The same month, Naughty Boy released on SoundCloud an early demo of Malik's song "I Won't Mind".

[62] Though unreleased, his work with Naughty Boy and Krept & Konan helped Malik gain a new urban audience in the UK.

[64] Later that year, Malik gave several interviews to discuss his debut solo studio album and revealed part of the track list.

In a conversation with Billboard, Malik's main collaborator for the album James "Malay" Ho said they went to unusual lengths in pursuit of inspiration during recording sessions, for one "we went camping for a week in the Angeles Forest – set up a generator and a tent so we could track in the woods.

"[65] In his first solo on-camera interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music's Beats 1, Malik revealed Mind of Mine as the album's title.

[70] The album's second official single, "Like I Would", reached number one on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart.

The single was released on 7 September 2017, and an accompanying music video featured American actress Jemima Kirke, directed by Marc Webb.

[105] On 30 November, Malik finally announced that his second solo studio album would be titled Icarus Falls and released its first promotional single, "Rainberry".

[119] Billboard reported on 26 January 2023 that Malik signed a new management contract with United Talent Agency for "representation across music, film and television".

Zayn announced his first-ever solo live show at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire on May 17 in celebration of the release of Room Under the Stairs.

In February 2017, the Versus (Versace) Spring Summer 2017 campaign featuring Malik and model Adwoah Aboah was released.

[135] Malik is an official ambassador of the British Asian Trust charity group, which aims to improve the lives of disadvantaged people in South Asia.

[139] In January 2020, Malik donated £10,000 toward a five-year-old girl's medical treatment through GoFundMe page her mother made to raise money.

[140] In May and June 2020, Malik expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement by sharing links to petitions and donating to the George Floyd memorial fund.

[141] During the 2014 Gaza War, Malik posted the message "#FreePalestine" on Twitter, causing him to receive angry responses and death threats online.

[142] In November 2022 in support of an initiative by The Food Foundation, Malik wrote a public letter to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urging him to widen the access to free school meals during the cost of living crisis.

[146] Malik has openly spoken about suffering from an eating disorder while in One Direction, which he attributed to the overwhelming workload and pace of life on tour.

[167][168] The family spent a majority of their time at their residence on a working farm in rural Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where Malik tended to horses and cows[169] and Hadid's mother Yolanda and sister Bella also own land.

[173] Court papers stated that Malik "grabbed and shoved her into a dresser causing mental anguish and physical pain" and said "lewd, lascivious, threatening or obscene words".

[174] He was sentenced by a Pennsylvania court to 360 days of probation and completion of anger management and domestic violence education programmes.

[178] He was influenced by his father's urban records, including those by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, R. Kelly, Usher, Donell Jones, Prince, 2Pac, Biggie, Gregory Isaacs, Yellowman and Chris Brown.

[82] In an interview with Rolling Stone, Malik stated that listening to Chris Stapleton and Willie Nelson inspired the songwriting for Room Under the Stairs.

He mostly inhabited a silvery, full-bodied tenor, similar to but more sharp and precise than Harry Styles' smoky warble", asserting that his departure would leave "a void of vocal agility".

[197] Malik was known as the "Bradford Bad Boy" of One Direction due to his mischievous behaviour, scandals, tattoos, graffiti art, and rock star hairstyles.

[201] Discussing his possible solo career after leaving the band, Billboard editor Joe Lynch described him as "the quiet one in the group ... never the one to grab the spotlight during interviews.