Bradford-born singer Zayn left fans in shock after leaving a subtle hint during concert on 10 year anniversary of him leaving One Direction.
Singer Zayn left fans devastated on 25 March 2015 when he announced that he would be leaving his One Direction bandmates behind, stating he wanted to be a “normal 22-year-old” and experience life outside the spotlight.
The following year, in 2016, Zayn released his first solo album, Mind of Mine, which included hit single such as PILLOWTALK. Since then, he’s continued to release music by himself.
He released his fourth studio album, ROOM UNDER THE STARS, in 2024, and is currently at the end of the world tour for the album. And as he started his concert in Mexico City on 25 March, he surprised fans by singing a song he hasn’t performed in a decade.
In a clip of the concert posted onto TikTok, a curtain is dropped to reveal the stage with Zayn standing ready to start the concert. As he waved hello to the fans, the fan started playing the intro of a song the fans weren’t expecting.
Instead of starting with the song ‘My Woman’ as he had for the previous shows, he had fans go wild as he started singing Night Changes from One Direction’s fourth studio album, Four, which was the last album Zayn was part of the band for.
Dressed in a striking red jacket over a white shirt, Zayn paused mid-performance, visibly moved by the overwhelming response from his audience.
Fans were quick to take to the comments of the video, where most of them suspected the song was performed to highlight his time in the boy band on the anniversary he’d announced he was leaving.
“On the 10th anniversary of him leaving 1D too.. he chose violence,” another fan wrote, while a third person said: “The way all the fans knew the lyrics. all one direction fans who followed him.”
The singer was also dressed in a red jacket, which some fans thought might be an homage to former bandmate Liam Payne who died in October 2024.
“I wonder if Zayn’s red jacket was to honor Liam?” one person commented, while a second person pointed out the singer also had a red microphone for his performans. Another person went on to say: “I‘d like to believe it was.”
While performing in One Direction, all members of the band had colour-coded microphones, and Liam was assigned the red one. The late singer also had a solo album called ‘Red’.
While Zayn has not played any 1D songs live since he left the group on March 25, 2015, he has shared small clips of himself singing along to the band’s songs over the years. Back in 2022, he shared a video of himself singing the song a cappella on Instagram. That summer he also shared a video of himself singing the high note in “You and I.”