Gigi Hadid References in Zayn Malik's 'Let Me'

From ELLE

After deleting every Gigi Hadid and other photo off his Instagram, Zayn Malik confirmed this weekend it really was because he was replicating Swift's new-music-release-social-media-purge PR move. Malik's brand new single, "Let Me," finally dropped this morning. The rollout included a mini movie-esque music video featuring the most Gigi Hadid-like love interest that isn't Hadid herself. His new ex Hadid liked his Instagram announcement last night, as to give it her blessing. No drama or shade here.

Plot-wise, Malik's character gets involved with some shady guys, and the girl becomes their leverage over him briefly until love prevails when she rebels against the bad guys and makes a great escape with Malik on a speed boat. Nothing overtly symbolic, but some of the shots look like they could've come straight from Hadid's Instagram. The girl's hair alone is very doppelg?nger.

This decision to cast a Hadid lookalike in a music video for a love song has been done before-by The Weeknd for his own ex Bella Hadid in "I Feel It Coming". And it just adds evidence that "Let Me" lyrically is about Hadid-though the lyrics themselves have plenty of hints.

Here, a breakdown of the Hadid references in Malik's lyrics (lyrics via Genius). He seems about ready to commit, so it's likely the song was written before the two broke up last month. Malik shares the writer's credit with Michael Hannides, Khaled Rohaim and Anthony Hannides.

Malik and Hadid dated for over two years exclusively. They spent birthdays and holidays together with family and were genuinely a committed, monogamous couple.