World renowned signer Zayn Malik is one of ELLE's five cover stars of the September 2016 issue. In the issue he talks about moving to Hollywood, dating fashion's most in-demand supermodel Gigi Hadid, and his debut solo album Mind Of Mine, which has already topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic and garnered critical acclaim.

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On his solo career and love of music:'My entire life has changed in the last year. I'm still taking it all in. I've found so much out about myself. Mostly how in love with music I still was. The album is a build up of six years and never being able to express what I wanted to say. I had something to get off my chest.'

On his relationship with his mum and sisters: 'I enjoyed the womanly influence. I have a lot of respect for women because of them. They are so strong, powerful and do everything themselves…'

On developing a personal style: 'Since leaving One Direction I've been given the freedom to be able to wear whatever I want and that's made it more interesting. More creative. I can say I want to wear metal arms and it'll happen.'

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On his decision to leave One Direction: 'At that time in my life I felt I had done everything I could do there and I just needed to change it up. It didn't feel brave. I just don't have it in me to feel fully secure in anything I do. I always strive towards something better. It's why I think sometimes I come across the wrong way, a bit distant. I'm just stressed out trying to control how I'm perceived. I think about things a lot.'

On his interest in acting: 'I started acting when I was in school with theatre studies and then music came after. It completely stopped when I joined the band but I'd definitely be interested if I was given the right role.'

On his relationship with model Gigi Hadid: 'She's super intelligent, I think that's why it works so well. And we do the same type of job so we get that with each other.'

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On the negatives of social media: 'As much as social networking is a big thing now, there's something to be said about having something real, if I had a choice I would take the camera off everyone's iPhone and make sure we didn't have Twitter or Facebook. It affects art form. There's something to be said about living in the moment. I try to keep my phone for calls.'

Zayn Malik For The September Issue | ELLE UKpinterest
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The September issue will be available on newsstands from 3 August.