Zayn Malik: I would consider One Direction reunion if time was right

Zayn Malik has said he would consider a One Direction reunion "if the time was right and that was the right thing to do".

Malik quit One Direction in March last year, shortly before the band announced a "two year hiatus", and is now set to release his first solo single, Pillow Talk.

When asked about the band's "inevitable reunion" in an interview with the Sunday Times Culture magazine, he said: "Who knows?"

The 23-year-old added: "I don't know. If the time was right and that was the thing to do, then I would make that decision when it came around."

Having previously said he was not in contact with his former band mates, he hinted that he had now "got an email" from one of the boys - but "I don't even wanna say names".

He added: "I have no beef."

Malik also revealed his hopes of continuing his education, which was cut short when he left sixth form halfway through to join the band in 2010.

He said: "You know what, to educate yourself isn't that hard these days. You can do it at home. You can go to lectures - just sit there, which hopefully, at some point, I can do - like, just sit and listen to a lecture."

The musician, who had originally planned to read English at university, said that going back to his studies would be "something that is only, solely for me, you know what I mean?

"And when my kids ask me, in the future, and I try to tell them to go to school, they can't turn around and say to me, 'F*** off, Dad, you were in a band!' I can turn around and say, 'Excuse me, I went back to school and got my degree. So you definitely have to do your schoolwork!'"

On his first album, due in March, he promised to "let people know what's really going on".

But he added: "I don't want to make it black and white for people. I just want it to be creative, still, and artistic. Know what I mean?"

On Pillow Talk, he will sing about something "so pure, so dirty and raw".

"I think I'm pretty black and white what it's about," he said.

"Everybody has sex, and it's something people wanna hear about. It's part of everybody's life, a very BIG part of life! And you don't wanna sweep it under the carpet. It has to be talked about."