Zayn Malik reveals the story behind his Fifty Shades collaboration with Taylor Swift
Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift‘s new single “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” off of the new Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack quickly shot to number one after its release, and now the “Pillowtalk” singer is opening up about how the collaboration came to be.
“We were kind of in separate places when I mentioned the idea to her. I spoke to her on the phone and she heard the song because Jack [Antonoff] had played it to her,” the singer, 23, said Tuesday on the Elvis Duran and The Morning Show. “So she really liked it and she went in the studio the next day.”
Swift — who is close friends with both Malik’s girlfriend Gigi Hadid and the movie franchise’s leading lady Dakota Johnson — “was cool with it” after Malik asked her to collaborate on the track, which was written by Swift, Sam Dew and Antonoff (who also produced it).
“The interesting thing was she’s actually friends with Gi, so she already reached out because Jack had just played her the song anyway, just because we’d done it together and she really liked it,” says Malik.
Indeed, a source close to the superstars tells PEOPLE Swift, 27, was completely on board with the idea.
“Taylor heard an unfinished version of ‘I Don’t Wanna Live Forever’ and was immediately inspired to go into the studio, finish writing the song and lend her vocals to the track,” says the source.
It’s been more than two years since Swift released her record-shattering 1989 album in October 2014. On Tuesday (Swift’s 27th birthday), AT&T released new content on Taylor Swift NOW, a new video experience created by the company and Swift as part of her exclusive multi-year deal with AT&T.
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