Zayn Malik is hitting the road. The former One Direction singer and solo star made another one of his patented silent walk-on appearances on The Tonight Show on Tuesday (Sept. 17), in which he strolled onto the set during host Jimmy Fallon’s post-monologue desk time to make a very special announcement.
In keeping with his previous no words pop-in earlier this year when he strolled onto set in March with a coffee mug in hand and cued up his then-new ballad “What I Am” on Fallon’s laptop before handing him a note announcing his fourth solo album, Room Under the Stairs, last night’s appearance was short on words but big on news.
Wearing a black leather jacket and missing the voluminous beard that has been covering his face lately, Zayn, 31, again with a white coffee mug in hand, casually walked out to screams from the studio audience and handed Fallon a note. “Zayn! Zayn, what are you…,” Fallon said in mock surprise at the unexpected (but clearly planned) visit.
Malik smiled and waved at the crowd before cueing up his Room Under the Stairs single “Stardust” on Fallon’s computer. He then walked to the front of the desk, swapped out Fallon’s black coffee mug for his own white Z-branded one, waved to the crowd and walked off stage.
“Hey Jimmy, great to see you, mate,” Fallon read the note left behind by the English singer in what sounded like an Australian accent via Liverpool that eventually downshifted into his regular voice. “I’m going on my first-ever tour this autumn. So maybe when you’re done picking apples with your buds, you can come check out my Stairway to the Sky tour across the U.S. and UK.”
While at press time the dates had not yet been revealed, the note said the official announcement was coming Wednesday morning (Sept. 18).
Hours before, the singer also teased the outing with a cryptic 24-second black and white video captioned “Tomorrow” in which he schlepped an old timey antenna to the top of a hill, twirled the dials on a reel-to-reel tape machine and pulled out a walkie talkie as a voice intoned, “I know it took a while, but we’re here.”
When he does hit the road, Zayn will have four solo albums of material to choose from, from his 2016 debut, Mind of Mine, to 2018’s Icarus Falls, 2021’s Nobody Is Listening and this year’s Room Under the Stairs.
This story will be updated when the dates are officially announced.
Check out the Tonight Show walk-on and preview video below.