Zayn Malik has received a strong reaction as spoke about the authenticity of One Direction.

In a recent interview for his new album "KONNAKOL", he was asked if he finds himself more authentic today as compared the time, he was making music in the band at the age of 17.

While answering the question, Zayn stated that he didn’t feel One Direction was authentic, while confessing that he wouldn’t have been listening to those songs he wasn’t in the band.

The 33-year-old said in The Smallzy Show, “From an artistic perspective whether you’re always painting, cooking, singing, you always want to be as true and authentic to yourself.”

“As you touched yourself there, the music we were making in One Direction, it wasn’t really the type of music I would have been listening to if I wasn’t in one direction at that point. So, it didn’t feel authentic in that sense.”

Internet isn’t responding well to his statement as one of the social media users expressed their rage in the comment section.

The comment read, “I don’t understand why, if he doesn’t have anything positive to say about it, he can’t just stay silent. Stuff like this is not nice for the fans to hear.”

“I’m sure some of the other guys feel similarly, but they’re smart enough to keep it to themselves. What creative control was he hoping to have as a 16/17-year-old? They all made music they probably don’t listen to. He didn’t even know who he was at that age. They all grew into their own artistry over time as they got older.”