Zayn Malik And Harry Styles Have Left One Direction, But Liam Payne Denies The Group Is Breaking Up
From the archive: published Feb 15, 2016, 10 years ago. Details may have changed since.
Everyone knows Zayn Malik and Harry Styles have left One Direction. It’s been confirmed by countless media and insider sources, but Liam Payne continues to insist the band will get back together in a year, or maybe a year and a half. He even holds out hope that Zayn will return, and definitely believes Harry Styles is coming back. The One Direction guys are just tired out from the past 5 successful years, and need a break, according to Payne. Whenever asked, he simply insists that by this time next year the band will be back together. It’s not really a break-up, he claims.
“No, no, no! We just got nominated for two Brits.”
Liam Payne is correct, despite the absence of Zayn Malik and more recently Harry Styles, One Dimension single and album sales are higher than ever. Their single, “Perfect,” is their fifth single to go to the top 10, according to Billboard. This exceeds records set by the Beatles back in the 1960s. It does seem a bit crazy for a band to break up at an all-time career high like this. Ironically, though, it seems even crazier to take a lengthy break at a time like this. Logically, they should be out there, working while they are young and popular, not backing off, if everything is really OK. Breaks are for older musicians in their 40s, aren’t they? Boy bands are only boys for a little while, so time needs to be used wisely. In this YouTube video, Niall Horan joins Liam in insisting the band is just on a break.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4LrvpYTIoE
Still, Liam Payne is following Zayn Malik and Harry Styles’ lead and doing some solo work. Maybe he is hedging his bets a little? Sugar Scape reports that Liam’s new songs will appear on Juicy J’s new album. Since everyone “went on break,” Liam has been spending a lot of time hanging out and collaborating with Juicy J. Both Liam Payne and Juicy J seem to be very proud of Liam’s new solo songs. They have let small segments of two songs leak to YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9V2_Gb96xo Since Harry Styles and Zayn Malik have left one direction, Liam Payne has continually insisted the band has always planned to get back together after a long break of a year to eighteen months. Perhaps if Harry doesn’t come back, One Direction could become a trio or a duet. Both Liam Payne and Niall Horan seem to want to stay in the group, and for everyone else to return. Eventually, they could get their wish.
Liam Payne and Niall Horan apparently hope Harry Styles and Zayn Malik return to One Direction. Will they?
