It seems that 22-year old former One Direction star Zayn Malik has officially left his boy band life behind him.

Zayn was looking very pleased in a photograph which shows him signing his new deal with RCA records and according to him, he’s going to be much happier doing his own thing.

He wrote to his 15 million followers on Twitter in order to officially confirm the news. In March when he left the famous boy band it was revealed that he had also been dropped from Simon Cowell’s record label Syco which he had been signed to as a 1D member.

Simon himself took to social media to congratulate Zayn on his new deal saying:

“I believe they are the perfect label for @ZaynMalik’s solo career and I am sure whatever they release together will be special.”

is this zayn's moment he's taking off his hannah montana wig and now he's miley cyrus

Speaking with The Sun, a source has said that it was “a big move” for Simon to let Zayn go “because Zayn could have a very successful solo career but his priority absolutely remains the band.” According to the source this is a deal which “suits” Simon as Zayn is still within the Sony music family.

However, it doesn’t seem like we should be expecting any collaborations between Zayn and his former bandmates any time soon. After walking away from the band insisting he wished to be a “normal 22-year old”, fans were confused when he then started working on solo material.

His recent tweets about “real music” have also had some fans questioning his loyalty to his former band mates. The Mail Online reached out to Zayn for a response but he has yet to respond.