Zayn Malik has managed to remain in the spotlight throughout 2015, and it looks like he is planning to maintain that trend in 2016 as well. He had his first major interview of the New Year with Billboard, and in it, he made some controversial statements that might rub some Little Mix fans, especially those who love Perrie Edwards, the wrong way.

All of last year, Malik was in the news for all the wrong reasons. It all began with him crying on-stage during a 1D performance in Hong Kong and abruptly leaving the tour the next day, due to stress. He then left the band for good, and many fans blamed then-fiancé Perrie Edwards for his departure, calling her the Yoko Ono of One Direction.

However, those rumours were short-lived with photos of Malik holding hands with a woman in Thailand causing more people to sympathise with the Little Mix singer than shun her. Malik ended the two-year engagement shortly, and since then, he has been rumoured to be with various celebrities, including Indian-origin Burberry model Neelam Gill.

Lately, he is being linked with model Gigi Hadid, although he maintains they are just friends. Let the photo he posted on Instagram two weeks ago speak for itself:

Meanwhile, in the recent Billboard interview, he claimed to be attracted to "chunky women". "I like girls that are a bit chunky in certain areas -- the nice areas. I like a fuller woman," Malik elaborated to Billboard.

However, Malik clarified that he is not fixated on looks alone; he wants to be with a girl who can have an intellectual conversation with him. "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," Malik said, sparking rumours that he is taking a shot at his ex-fiancé Edwards.

We hope he was not taking a shot at Edwards, calling her vain or dim-witted, because rather than have the former 1D heartthrob get caught up in yet another controversy, we would like to hear some solo music from him soon. 

It does look like we might hear his new music soon though: "I'll come down here and record maybe seven songs a night...That's because I'm enjoying what I'm doing. I'm not censoring myself anymore, so I'm not tired. I love it." In fact, Billboard has mentioned in the article that we may be getting a spring release of Zayn Malik's new music and that it will be released by RCA.

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