Zayn Malik's dreams of teaching English were dashed by joining 1D

Sad for you.

Words by Jadie Troy-Pryde

Zayn Malik and his One Direction bandmates were responsible for bringing boy bands back where they belong - in our lives, every day, always. He might have left the group two years ago, but he has managed to carve a successful solo career for himself, he consistently graces the covers of top fashion mags and he's rumoured to be engaged to Gigi Hadid, one of the biggest supermodels on the planet.

So it's fair to say that the 24-year-old seems to have it pretty sorted. But can you imagine what our lives would be like if he hadn't turned up to his X Factor audition all those years ago, and we unknowingly had a Zayn-shaped hole in our hearts?

Well, now you don't need to imagine, because Zayn has revealed exactly what he would have been up to if he didn't fall into a life of fame and fortune.

In an interview with VMAN, he admitted: 'I think about (what I'd do away from music) quite a lot. I think about alternative realities. I think I'd be at university and I would have done my English degree. I think I'd be looking for some employment to do with English lecturing or literature.

'I love poetry and writing—obviously, I'm a songwriter—so, it would've been something that would still give me the feeling of a creative outlet within my writing.'

That's right - we could have been destined for a lecture with Zayn Malik. And if he wore similar glasses to his former bandmate, Liam Payne, we'd never miss a class.

Zayn also spoke about his disdain for Instagram, telling the magazine: 'It's become ridiculous to me. Even angles of pictures can't be taken a certain way because that's not the cool way to take an angle of a picture.

'That's my personal opinion, that it's not really that developing for us as people. That for me is the main reason why I don't believe in social media: because I believe it breeds sheep and not lions.'

Better pack up your Hollywood life, delete Insta and head back home to start your teaching career then, Zayn.