One Direction releases first single without Zayn Malik

One Direction have surprised fans by releasing a new single, “Drag Me Down”, which is their first track since Zayn Malik left the band.

The British boy band premiered “Drag Me Down” less than 24 hours prior on Spotify.

Bit of a surprise!

It arrived after months of letting fans know that its fifth album (and first without Zayn Malik) is nearly complete, though without any notice of when the debut single would actually arrive. “It’s called Drag Me Down & I hope you love it as much as we do”.

“Nobody can drag me down”, sing the foursome over moody, guitar-heavy Maroon 5-esque licks.

Louis Tomlinson also took to social media, writing: “We wanted you guys to have our new single first so here it is!”

Yep. The ex-One Direction singer has packed up his boyband boots for good and is able to turn out to be the Robbie Williams of the 21st century.

Malik left the band in March and tweeted a photo this week showing him signing a new record contract with RCA Records. It was for this moment to be given the opportunity to show you who I really am! The band did not announce that they would release a song prior to Liam’s tweet.