Zayn's collab with Blackpink singer made him 'cool again' with daughter

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Zayn Malik has said he jumped at the chance to collaborate on a song with Blackpink's Jisoo as his daughter is a "massive fan".

The former One Direction star, 32, released the track Eyes Closed alongside the South Korean pop star last month.

While hosting his first BBC Radio 1 show, Zayn said that when Jisoo approached him about doing a feature he thought: "My daughter's gonna think I'm cool again so I'll definitely do that."

The singer shares five-year-old Khai with his former partner, US model Gigi Hadid.

It is not the first time Zayn has shared his love for the K-pop band.

Over the summer, he posted a photo to his Instagram story of him holding his daughter in his arms while they attended a Blackpink concert, and wrote on the post "Me & Khai loved it".

During his two-hour Radio 1 special, Zayn said he was keen to work with Jisoo as she is "killing it at the minute".

"I've wavered a little bit from the pop sound myself, so to come back to it with the people who are basically owning that genre at the minute was an honour," he said.

"If I can say thanks to Jisoo, I'm really happy with the way it turned out."

Blackpink – comprised of members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa – are one of the biggest K-pop girl bands in the world.

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Alongside playing a few of his own songs during his radio special, Zayn shouted out some of his favourite artists including US rappers Lauryn Hill and Eminem.

The Bradford-born singer also revealed his father was a "massive" fan of Biggie Smalls and he would blast songs by the US rapper loudly so the whole street could hear.

"Rap music was a big influence in my younger years and that was definitely made more prominent by the fact that I was living in Bradford, for sure," he said.

The singer's music career began in 2010 as part of One Direction, the boy band formed on TV talent contest, The X Factor.

He rose to stardom alongside the other band members - Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne.

Liam died in October 2024 after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina.

Zayn left the group in 2015 to go solo and released his debut album, Mind of Mine, in 2016, which topped the charts.

The singer went on to release three more albums. The latest, Room Under The Stairs, peaked at number three in the charts last year.