Liam Payne Disses Zayn Malik: Says 1D’s New Album Is Their Best One Yet

Shots have been fired! Liam Payne doesn’t believe One Direction needs Zayn Malik to make great music. The boy bander says that their first album without Zayn is also their best. Was he dissing his old friend?

It sounds like Liam Payne, 21, just took yet another dig at his former bandmate Zayn Malik, 22. During an interview about their new fragrance Between Us, the One Direction boys were asked about their newest music. Liam chimed in, saying that he thinks their new album will be the band’s best one yet. Was he trying to disrespect Zayn?

While chatting about the launch of their newest fragrance, Liam gave his thoughts on the band’s new album, the first one without original member Zayn. “It’s just pure greatness. I don’t mean to sound arrogant when I say that, but it’s just my favorite stuff we’ve ever done. I was listening to it with Sophia this morning, actually. One of songs has a different girl’s name in the title, but it’s fine—she didn’t take any offense. We’re just ready to go with it. It’s going to be ace, I promise you that,” he told Teenvogue.com. Favorite stuff they’ve ever done? Is this Liam’s way of saying he thinks the band is better as a foursome?

Zayn Removing Tattoo He Got With Louis?

As much as they’ve tried to maintain a happy facade for their fans, signs of conflict between Zayn and his former mates have been emerging for months. Most recently, a photo of the “BUS 1” tattoo that he shares with Louis, shows that it’s almost completely gone from his body. There was an immediate fan freakout, since it appeared that Zayn was deliberating removing it, but he later chimed in on Twitter to claim that the tattoo was just fading on its own and he hadn’t kept it up. Crisis averted we suppose, but aren’t tattoos supposed to be forever? Hopefully Zayn won’t fade away from his former friends’ lives like the ink on his hand has.

What do you think, HollywoodLifers? Was Liam dissing Zayn? Sound off below!

— Alex Cramer