Zayn Malik has praised his former band One Direction's new single.

Malik, who left the group in March (15), took to Twitter.com on Saturday (01Aug15) to write, "Proud of my boys the new single is sick. Big love. :) x."

The boyband released the new track, Drag Me Down, on Thursday (30Jul15) much to the surprise of fans, and within minutes it was the top trending topic on Twitter.

The release comes after Malik signed to rival label RCA records on Wednesday (29Jul15), and tweeted a photo of himself inking his new contract, along with the caption, "I guess I never explained why I left, it was for this moment to be given the opportunity to show you who I really am! #realmusic #RCA !! ... #REALME (sic)."