Latest news with #OneDirection
Daily Mirror
43 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Zayn Malik's bombshell lyrics as he calls out racism he faced in One Direction
Singer Zayn Malik dropped a new single called Fuchsia Sea, and unlike sexy hit Pillow Talk, Zayn raps as details the racism he experienced while he was part of One Direction Singer Zayn Malik released his new song to the surprise and joy of his international fanbase. The rap song called Fuchsia Sea dives deep into the obstacles the British-Pakistani star has faced since his X Factor debut in 2010 and his success as 1/5th of One Direction. Posting the lyrics pasted onto a black Instagram story, Zayn's new-style track does not hold back from criticising the media industry, highlighting the systemic racism and classism he faced as a singer from Bradford, Yorkshire. Fuchsia Sea refers to a flower a 'hanging lantern' plant that is most known as native to America and New Zealand, however also appear in northern UK gardens across Lancashire and Yorkshire, Zayn's birthplace. Here's a breakdown of the lyrics: The song begins: "Rise and fall, I fight intimidation, imagination lack across a nation/ Got my back against the wall, so much they think I got a brick fascination / Do you remember every conversation? / 'Cause I been conscious of every connotation". Reading into these lyrics, Zayn addresses the racial stereotypes spread through the UK, even more prevalent now with the rise of the Right-wing nationalism. Interestingly, "brick fascination" suggests to slang use of the term brick, which can mean both a low-quality drug dealer as well as an adjective for something that is "completely useless, worthless, or broken beyond repair," according to fast slang. For more stories like this subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Weekly Gulp, for a curated roundup of trending stories, poignant interviews, and viral lifestyle picks from The Mirror's Audience U35 team delivered straight to your inbox. Zayn has faced a wave of media backlash and name calling, not only for his brooding band persona as One Direction's "mysterious one," but also as the ex of supermodel Gigi Hadid, with whom he shares a four-year-old daughter, Khai. TV presenter Piers Morgan previously made a dig at Malik, claiming he was the "the serial pain in the backside of the music industry" on This Morning. In 2012, Zayn hit back at the haters and told Fabulous magazine: "[They said] nasty things like I'm a terrorist. How can you justify that? How can you call me that and get away with it?". Labelled a "terrorist," "surly," "rude" and racial slurs over the years, the former One Direction member now states he's "conscious of every connotation" in a bold play of words that speaks volumes for the singer, who normally chooses to remain out of spotlight and media drama. READ MORE: Lorde caught in the crosshairs as new release sparks heated 'bushtok' debate With an estimated net worth of £70 million, the star's lyrics are now circulating around TikTok with many fans creating videos to the specific lyrics: "I'm a convert to the concert, and I did that for inflation, 'cause I worked hard in a white band, and they still laughed at the Asian". Here, Zayn is calling out the racial dilemmas he faced as part of the biggest boyband in the world at the time, since he was the only person of colour in an all-white band. Zayn claims that despite his hard work and dedication, it was never enough because of his race. The Great British Bake Off winner and BBC TV presenter, Nadiya Hussain, also faced controversy after the cancellation of her show caused an onslaught of criticism by Brits who felt the she should express gratitude for the opportunity in the first place. This same attitude, reserved for those of immigrant decent, has continuously followed Zayn. Take, for example, Piers Morgan making Express headlines for suggesting Malik "go clean drains" if he didn't want to be a popstar. On TikTok, one fan posted a video that has received 161,000 likes. The video stated: "I don't recall him ever specifically talking about the racism he dealt with in that band, from the media, from fans, hell, from even their management, based of the way he was marketed. He dealt with some s**t". She went on to say that "on top of all the mental health issues they were dealing with just as these young guys in Hollywood at that level of stardom, he dealt with the racism on top of that. And he was the only one to have to deal with that. And no one ever defended him!. She stated: "I know no one defended him because I was the one defending him" online, captioning the post "13 year old me and 27 year old me don't play about that man". The video has now reached 1.1 million views and over a thousand comments in support. With the addition of TikTok coverage, Zayn's meaningful lyrics are sure to spike with success, the star finally re-entering the limelight after leaving the band in 2015, and the death of fellow member, Liam Payne. Help us improve our content by completing the survey below. We'd love to hear from you!
CNBC
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- CNBC
27-year-old ran a One Direction fan account as a teen—now she runs a media brand with 3.4M followers including Lorde and Bella Hadid: 'I love my job'
Lucy Blakiston used to think working in media meant living a glitzy life wearing kitten heels, getting her nails done and working from chic offices. Instead, the 27-year-old runs her media empire, S--- You Should Care About, from her bedroom in Wellington, New Zealand, where she lives with six of her hometown friends and prefers the quieter life. The cheerful room is "where the magic happens," Blakiston tells CNBC Make It. It's where, starting at 5 a.m., she writes her daily newsletter that covers political and pop culture news for some 80,000 readers around the world, and posts updates to an Instagram following 3.4 million people strong, including Lorde, Bella Hadid, Madonna and, most surprisingly to Blakiston, Joe Rogan. "All I need is my friends, my family, my bike and my laptop, and I'm so happy," Blakiston says. Covering the news can be exhausting and depressing, yet Blakiston considers it a privilege to fill a gap in legacy media by providing access to global news to Gen Zers in language they can relate to — and make a living out of it. "I love my job," she says. Blakiston launched SYSCA in 2018 with two of her best friends, Ruby Edwards and Olivia Mercer. At first, the blog was a hobby for the three college students to break down complicated world issues, like the Rohingya crisis, for themselves and their friends while in between classes and part-time jobs. They aimed to deliver information that wasn't so "black and white" or "boring," Blakiston says. Part of making the news accessible to fellow Gen Zers was meeting them where they are — on social media pages like Instagram, TikTok and the platform now known as X. Blakiston says she channeled the skills she learned from running a One Direction fan account as a teen (social media management, photo editing and mobilizing an engaged audience) into creating SYSCA's distinct voice and approach to delivering "the news without the blues." For every post about war or the climate crisis is a "timeline cleanse" post featuring Harry Styles, or a mundane poll about whether cookware belongs in the dishwasher to help commenters channel their frustration into a lighthearted online debate. The news page exploded during the summer of 2020 as SYSCA worked to make sense of the Covid-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, and elections in the U.S. and New Zealand. Celebrities like Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish shared SYSCA posts on Instagram, and the news page swelled to over 1 million followers. By the end of 2020, Blakiston was working for a media company and says her boss encouraged the trio to take SYSCA from a hobby to a full-fledged business. "He was like, 'Girl, you have 3 million people listening to what you're saying. Why are you not getting paid for this?'" Blakiston says. Blakiston, Edwards and Mercer rented an office in Auckland to turn SYSCA into a business; Edwards handled business partnerships, Mercer led design and Blakiston wrote the voice behind the brand. "People say, 'Don't go into business with your friends, but they obviously don't have friends like mine,'" Blakiston says of her co-founders. "I'm talking sisters. We've been friends since we were 14, and so we knew each other deeply." Over the years, Edwards and Mercer left to pursue other opportunities abroad. By 2023, Blakiston was the sole co-founder who wanted to keep SYSCA running. "They set it up; they got it looking great; they got us the confidence that people would pay for the work we did," Blakiston says. "And then it was kind of like, 'OK Luce, we've built you up. You can go and do it on your own.'" It's not always easy being a young woman working on the internet, let alone building a media company when the industry faces significant challenges. Global trust in the news is lower than it was during the height of the pandemic, according to research from Reuters, while selective news avoidance and concern about what's real and fake in online news ticked up in recent years. Blakiston counts her ex-boss, the one who encouraged her to take the leap with SYSCA, as a mentor and says he's given her the best advice: "Just be cute for you." Blakiston recalls him telling her, "You just need to make sure you're doing something that you're proud of, and don't take criticism from people that you wouldn't take opinions from in your real life." "I'm just being cute for me, and if people love it, great," she adds. "But at the end of the day, if I don't love it, I'm not going to be good at my job." That mindset is also why Blakiston says she doesn't shy away from being cringe on the Internet. "In the age of social media, if you want to be someone or put your work out there, you actually cannot worry about the audience. You have to be yourself and just do it. And if other people are gonna think that's cringe, that is a projection of them. That is not your problem. What other people are thinking about you is not your problem." These days, Blakiston runs her media company with another hometown friend and current roommate, Abby Laurenson, who handles design and runs the group's book club. The co-founder resists advice from others to scale up, which she considers "such a tech bro mindset." "I never want my job to be managing a team," she says. "I want my job to be talking directly to the people." SYSCA provides its daily newsletter for free and doesn't advertise on Instagram; it's funded by subscribers who pay $8 USD per month, or $80 USD per year, for access to premium content including the group's book club, personal essays and additional articles from paid contributing writers. Earlier this year, Blakiston co-wrote a book, "Make It Make Sense," and she also takes paid speaking and consulting gigs in order to re-invest earnings back into the business. Blakiston say she's "proud" that the money to keep SYSCA afloat "comes from people just supporting the newsletter and the work. I always say, 'Normalize paying for the media you love,' and that's what they do." Blakiston declined to share additional details about the business's earnings but says her main financial goals with SYSCA are to make enough money to cover her rent, pay contractors that help different parts of the business, and grow her network of paid contributing writers. "I make enough money to be able to do what I love and be happy," she says.
Buzz Feed
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Zayn Malik Calls Out Racism From One Direction Days
Over the weekend, Zayn Malik shared a brief snippet of a new song that he's set to release soon, titled 'Fuchsia Sea.' Zayn also shared the track's lyrics to his Instagram story, and it wasn't long before fans noticed one standout line that referenced the racism he experienced during his One Direction days. For context, One Direction was formed back in 2010 after solo artists Zayn, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Liam Payne — who sadly died last year — were put together on The X Factor. Of course, the boyband was absolutely huge, releasing five different albums — and going on four tours — in the space of five years. Zayn left the band in 2015 to embark on his solo career, and the rest of the group parted ways in 2016. Zayn was the only non-white and Muslim member of the band; his father is of Pakistani descent. And sadly, the singer has faced some horrific racism over the years. Back in 2012, right-wing American blogger Debbie Schlussel released a disgusting post accusing Zayn of 'pimping Islam' to his young fans. 'Zayn Malik is pimping Islam on your kids. That's in addition to his Arabic tattoos and frequent donning of the keffiyeh, the official garb of Islamic terrorism,' she wrote in part. The following year, American rapper Rucka Rucka Ali released a horrific track called 'Zayn Did 9/11,' which featured lyrics that blamed the singer for the tragic September 11 terrorist attacks. In 2014, Zayn faced a heap of death threats for simply tweeting #FreePalestine. And in 2015, Bill Maher made a disgusting 'joke' comparing Zayn to the 2013 Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Zayn has also temporarily deleted his X (formerly Twitter) account due to horrific abuse over the years, and even directly addressed repeatedly being called a 'terrorist.' With all this in mind, numerous internet users have praised Zayn for now speaking out about his experience in his soon-to-be-released song. 'im very proud of him for saying it as openly and bluntly as he did,' one person tweeted. 'Good on him for speaking out. He was called vile and abhorrent names and things said about him,' someone else echoed. 'Good for him! People were absolutely vile and nothing was ever said or done about it,' another person said, while one more added, 'I'm so glad he's speaking out through his music especially these days when racism against Asians/south asians is insane.' Zayn hasn't yet revealed when his new song will be released; all we know is that it's 'coming soon.' Watch this space!
Cosmopolitan
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Zayn Malik Opens Up About Racism on Upcoming 'Fuchsia Sea' Remix
Zayn Malik is back with another banger, and he's seemingly opening up about his One Direction-era fame in its lyrics. The singer-songwriter is dropping a remix of his Room Under the Stairs track, 'Fuchsia Sea,' featuring a new rap verse. He teased the new lyrics on his Instagram Stories, where he discusses his journey with finding fame at a young age and facing racism from the public while he was 'in a white band' with Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Liam Payne. 'Got my back against the wall so much they think I got a brick fascination / Do you remember every conversation? 'Cause I have been conscious of every connotation,' he muses on the snippet he shared on social media. He continued, 'And while they concentrate on their elevation, I've got a round trip to the constellation / I'm a convert to the concert, and I did that for inflation, 'cause I worked hard in a white band, and they still laughed at the Asian.' The track, which was first featured on his 2024 album Room Under the Stairs, outlined his resilience following personal struggles. His new lyrics seem to be an extension of the emotions that drove the original version. This marks Zayn's first musical release since he toured his album earlier this year. On the tour's opening night in Mexico City, he sang 1D's ballad 'Night Changes' as a tribute to the late Liam Payne. It also happened to be the 10th anniversary of Zayn's departure from the band. 'It's the first time I've sung that song in 10 years. Thank you, that was fucking amazing. I almost cried,' he said following the emotional performance, per fan-captured footage. In 2015, the singer exited 1D to pursue some 'private time out of the spotlight'—but he ended up releasing his debut solo album, Mind of Mine, later that year. '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,' he wrote in a statement on the band's Facebook page at the time. He added, '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. I know I have four friends for life in Louis, Liam, Harry, and Niall. I know they will continue to be the best band in the world.'
Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Zayn fans heartbroken as he addresses devastating racist abuse during 1D
Fans of Zayn Malik have leapt to the defence of the musician after he bravely opened up about his experiences with racism, having faced dozens of vile comments throughout his life Zayn Malik has been inundated with support after opening up about his experiences with racism. The singer, who found fame as one-fifth of One Direction, shed light on his own experiences in a new song. The Bradford-born musician, born Zain Javadd Malik has been on the receiving end of terrible social media abuse due to his appearance and growing up as a Muslim. In 2015, a TV host, Bill Maher, claimed that Zayn looked like the 2013 Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev during a discussion about his departure from One Direction. Those in the audience were heard letting out an audible gasp after Maher's comments. Controversial musician Azealia Banks also had her X, formerly known as Twitter, access revoked after she made racist comments towards the singer in 2016 due to his heritage. She later apologised for her post, saying: "I apologise not only to you, Zayn, but to all those I hurt and offended." Now, Zayn has been praised for speaking up about what he has experienced in a new song, titled Fuchsia Sea. Lyrics from the track include: "Got my back against the wall so much they think I got a brick fascination. Do you remember every conversation? '"Cause I have been conscious of every connotation. And while they concentrate on their elevation, I've got a round trip to the constellation. I'm a convert to the concert, and I did that for inflation, 'cause I worked hard in a White band, and they still laughed at the Asian." "I'm so proud of you," said one fan on social media after Zayn debuted the record. A second added: "I'm so proud of Zayn for publicly acknowledging the racism/islamophobia he's faced, specifically from what must've been an extremely isolating experience as the only POC in a white band." Another penned: "Everybody who says Zayn didn't face racism in the 1D days needs to shut the f**k up!!! My man was getting dragged left and right just because he was Muslim, don't get me started or I'll lose it! He has every right to talk about his experience, and he is not shading anyone come on." Meanwhile, a fourth fumed on X: "Zayn proudly declaring his Asian roots even more over the years despite all the racism he faced will always make me proud. Coz he could've have easily white washed himself & only identified as European. But people wanna act shocked that he's Asian." There is nothing to suggest that the lyrics are aimed at any of Zayn's former bandmates, with whom he has since rekindled his friendship following his departure from the chart-topping mega band in 2015. But this isn't the first time he has spoken about his experiences. In another track, Yellow Metal (Catharctic), Zayn penned the lyrics: "Said I had a problem with hittin' the kids that would call me P**i, still sittin' in classroom chillin', I'm angry now that I'm older 'cause I see they treat us different, Got me thinking I'm the problem 'cause they never dealt with these issues." A second verse added: "Ain't many of me around, P**i, I'm just different." In 2012, Zayn spoke to The Sun after he was cruelly branded a terrorist. He told the outlet: "Nasty things [were said] like I'm a terrorist, and this and that. How can you justify that? How can you call me that and get away with it?" The singer brushed the comments off but admits that the vile slurs affected his family, which in turn, upset him. He added: "You can say whatever you want about me, I'm not really bothered. But when it starts to upset people I care about or I hear about it from my mum, then that's a problem. I thought we'd moved forward. If that was said to me on the street or if someone said it to me to my face or whatever then something could be done about it." He also previously spoke openly about the differences he faced to his former bandmates during their first trip to America. Speaking to the Evening Standard, Zayn said: "The first time I came to America, I had three security checks before I got on the plane. First, they said that I'd been randomly selected, and then they said it was something to do with my name — it was flagging something on their system. "It was like a movie. They kept me there for three hours, questioning me about all kinds of crazy stuff. I was 17, my first time in America, jet-lagged off the plane, confused. The same thing happened the next time too."
