Zayn Malik has credited girlfriend Gigi Hadid for fueling his collaboration with Taylor Swift.

The former One Direction star and Shake It Off singer Taylor have teamed up on track I Don't Wanna Live Forever, from the soundtrack of upcoming film Fifty Shades Darker. They caused a social media storm when they dropped the song, and now Zayn has opened up about how the duet came about.

“The interesting thing was she’s actually friends with Gi (Gigi) so she already reached out because (producer) Jack (Antonoff) had just played her the song anyway," Zayn said during an interview with Elvis Duran and the Morning Show on Tuesday (13Dec16). "She mentioned to me that she liked the song so I already kind of knew in the back of my head that she liked it so I asked her if she wanted to be on it and she was cool with it."

Gigi has long been a part of Taylor's infamous "squad", and is frequently seen on social media with her singer pal.

I Don't Wanna Live Forever sees Taylor and Zayn taking it in turns to deliver their lines, with the blonde star crooning, "Baby, baby, I feel crazy/Up all night, all night and every day/Give me something, oh, but you say nothing/What is happening tonight?" before Zayn jumps in, "I don't wanna live forever/'Cause I know I'll be living in pain."

The song was written specifically for the new film, starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, and will feature on the soundtrack which is due for release on 10 February (17) through Republic Records.

The film is also due to hit cinemas from 8 February.

Taylor's collaboration with Zayn is all the more interesting considering the pair has something of a history. Fans of the singer will remember her much documented romance with Zayn's One Direction bandmate Harry Styles, which began in November 2012 and ended in January the following year. After their split, Taylor did what she does best and wrote a song about her ex - believed to be I Knew You Were Trouble.