Singer Zayn Malik received an achievement award at the 2015 Asian Awards in London on Friday, April 17. In his acceptance speech, the 22-year-old thanked God, his parents, and former One Direction bandmates. Malik tweeted his first message to fans early Monday morning for the first time in over a month.
"Tonight's about thanks. I want to thank God for allowing me to be able to do what my dreams were. I'd like to thank my mom and dad for making me asian and for allowing me to have some sort of an effect on the edge of community. It's a massive honor," said Malik.
Malik received the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award at the 5th Annual Asian Awards. The Asian Awards is a United Kingdom ceremony that rewards achievements by South and Eastern Asian individuals in 14 different categories. Malik was honored for raising money for the British Asian Trust, one of 20 Prince Charities founded by Prince Charles. The Trust helps the poor in areas of education, health, and lifestyle.
"As an official ambassador of the British Asian Trust, Zayn Malik used his birthday this year as an opportunity to raise over £7,000 to the charity, so thank you Zayn," announced the host.
Malik's presence at London's Grosvenor House Hotel was his first public appearance since formally resigning from British boyband One Direction. He sported a new hairstyle, having shaved off his long black locks. Malik shed his pretty boy image while wearing a black suit and tie.
"I'm not really a guy of many words normally I don't normally do the speeches but obviously I have to say thank you for this. This is an amazing evening. I'm massively honored to be here tonight. It's incredibly humbling to accept an award on the same stage as some people that I've look up to my entire life, iconic people such as Shah Khan," said Malik in his Cockney dialect.
After thanking his British Pakistani father and his English mother, He took the time to thank former One Direction bandmates Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and Niall Horan.
"I'd also like to take this moment to thank four of the best guys I ever met whilst being in the band and doing all the amazing things that I did. Some of the things that we did will stay with me for the rest of my life and I thank you for that. So, here's to the future. Thank you very much for everything tonight."
Malik left One Direction in March during the band's world tour. He took a plane ride back to the U.K. His representatives said that he left the tour because of high stress levels. Malik formally left the band a few days after leaving the tour.
"Wanna say thanks to everyone that's been there for me over the last few weeks, love you all.. you know who you are x," Malik tweeted on early Monday morning on his official
Twitter account.
It was his first message to fans since leaving One Direction in mid-March. Malik's official Twitter account is @ZaynMalik and his Twitter ID is still "ZaynMalik1D," 1D stands for One Direction. His profile still states onedirectionmusic.com as his website. He has 14.6 million followers.
