Zayn Malik is smoldering and surrounded by smoke on the brand new #Sexy summer issue #Sexy of Paper magazine, on newsstands June 21.

Here’s what the 23-year-old “Pillowtalk” performer had to share with the mag:

On not being allowed to have a beard in One Direction: “Facial hair was a weird thing. I think it’s ’cause I just looked old. And they didn’t like that. [And] I always wanted a beard! I think every dude does when they’re young. Seeing Al Pacino in Carlito’s Way — I needed the goatee after that. I was like, ‘I wanna be Al Pacino.’ I’ve always been obsessed with that, and I had to shave it off. I used to get a bit sad.”

On Gigi Hadid: “I’ve always said it and I still stand by it: I find intelligence attractive. When I learn something from somebody and they teach me something, that’s an attractive thing for me. Obviously, I find physical appearance attractive as well, but it’s definitely squared more towards a personality as I’ve gotten older, because you can’t have a long-term relationship unless you get on with the person. It doesn’t matter really about the exterior.”

On his social life: “I don’t really enjoy going out too much and partying. I like to have my own time and be at home, and I kind of need a partner with me to do that. I just like the security of that. It feels good to me. It feels right. We’ll see each other tonight and probably watch a film. Netflix and chill. Yeah, we do that a lot.”

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Zayn takes the cover of Dazed magazine’s Summer 2016 issue, which hits newsstands on Thursday (June 16).

Here’s what the 23-year-old “Pillowtalk” singer had to share with the mag:

On getting Taylor Swift’s approval on his album Mind of Mine: “At Gigi [Hadid]’s house we briefly spoke and she told me she really enjoyed the album. It was nice to get some feedback. She said she thought I was cool and I kind of blushed a bit and didn’t know how to take it.”

On leaving One Direction: “I know that musicians are seen as one-sided people a lot of the time, but we do have other elements to us as well. I didn’t feel good. Do you know what I mean?… You need to be able to express what it is that you are. I’m free at last.”

On his love of writing: “I have always liked language and the way you can say a certain thing in a certain way and it can be perceived so differently by whoever is listening, because of whatever time they are at in their life.”

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Zayn makes a special appearance on the season ten finale of The Voice on Tuesday (May 24) in Los Angeles.

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Zayn and Gigi Hadid cuddle close as they look over Naples, Italy in a spread for the May 2016 issue of Vogue, on newsstands April 26.

The couple were photographed by Mario Testino for the romantic fashion feature.

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