It's practically inevitable: every boy band comes to an end. But One Direction's ending was a little more complicated than fans initially knew – and the cracks in the foundation were there from the very start.
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00:00It's practically inevitable.
00:02Every boy band comes to an end, but One Direction's ending was a little more complicated than
00:07fans initially knew, and the cracks in the foundation were there from the very start.
00:12Much of our information about why One Direction broke up comes from Zayn Malik, who left the
00:16group in March 2015.
00:18His departure came less than two months into the group's On the Road Again tour supporting
00:22their fourth and final album as a quintet, the aptly titled Four.
00:27That trek saw the band playing 80 shows all over the world from February to October.
00:31A journey like that would exhaust any performer, and Malik was the first to say that he couldn't
00:36handle it anymore.
00:37At the time, a representative for Malik cited stress and anxiety as reasons why he left
00:42One Direction.
00:43The group's Facebook announcement quoted the singer as saying,
00:46"'I have to do what feels right in my heart.
00:49I am leaving because I want to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have
00:53some private time out of the spotlight.'"
00:55There's certain parts of this job that Zayn loved, and there's certain parts of the job
00:57that he didn't.
00:59These feelings had been bubbling since One Direction's beginning.
01:02The band was more or less fashioned into existence in 2010 after each young man auditioned as
01:07a solo artist for X Factor.
01:09They were basically kids, with Louis Tomlinson being the oldest at 18.
01:14One Direction continued as a quartet after Malik left and even put out another studio
01:18album, Made in the A.M., in November 2015.
01:22But by January the next year, the group was done.
01:25After Zayn left One Direction, it didn't take long for his bandmates to follow suit.
01:30But remaining members Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Liam Payne went
01:35about exiting the group in a more prolonged, orderly fashion.
01:39They either procrastinated as long as possible or pushed as quickly as they could within
01:43the limits of their contracts.
01:45In August 2015, the group announced that they'd be taking a one-year hiatus starting in March
01:50the following year.
01:52Even then, plenty of people weren't buying the we're taking a break argument, as one
01:56fan on X wrote,
01:57Well, Zayn went on a break and never came back.
02:00In response, Niall said on X,
02:02Okay, so lots of rumors going around.
02:05We are not splitting up, but we will be taking a well-earned break at some point next year.
02:10Intentionally or not, One Direction's hiatus did prove a means of escape for its members.
02:15Louis was the most reluctant to leave the group, telling the Sunday Times he was, quote,
02:19mortified and bitter, but in hindsight, it seems like a split that was bound to happen.
02:25While Zayn initially said he left One Direction in pursuit of normalcy and privacy, different
02:30reasons for his departure have surfaced in recent years.
02:33It took all the way to 2023 for Zayn to reveal more details to host Alex Cooper on the Call
02:38Her Daddy podcast.
02:39Malik told Cooper that he and the other members of One Direction had gotten, quote, sick of
02:44each other by the time he left.
02:45He elaborated by saying that he noticed a lot of political moves going on within the
02:49band that indicated to him the end was near.
02:52Certain people were doing certain things, certain people didn't want to sign contracts,
02:56so I knew something was happening.
02:57Malik said he saw proverbial writing on the wall, or at least accepted it earlier than
03:02the other band members.
03:03Of course, his choices weren't without consequences, and may have built more resentment than the
03:08band first let on.
03:09In 2022, the late Liam Payne spoke out about Zayn specifically on The Impulsive with Logan
03:15Paul podcast.
03:16I don't agree with any of his actions, I can't commend some of the things that he's done.
03:20Each member of One Direction launched their own solo musical career following the group's
03:24breakup.
03:25On Call Her Daddy, Zayn said that he wanted to be the first member of the group to pursue
03:29a solo project.
03:30I'm a passive dude, but when it comes to my music and my business, I'm serious about it
03:35and I'm competitive.
03:37Since he left the earliest, he did get there first and released his solo album, Mind of
03:41Mine, in March 2016.
03:43Louis, one of One Direction's chief songwriters, went on to put out two solo albums, despite
03:48his reluctance to leave the group.
03:50Niall also came into his own and has put out three albums since One Direction broke up.
03:55Payne struggled the most, but he still released one album before his passing in October 2024.
04:00And then of course, there's Harry, who's had no problem whatsoever hitting it big on his
04:05own.
04:06It turns out, Zayn wasn't the only member of One Direction who wanted some time out
04:10of the public eye.
04:11In 2021, Niall spoke with British TV presenter Dermot O'Leary about the hysteria One Direction
04:17invoked in fans.
04:18Recalling how fans would bang on car windows and appear en masse at their press events,
04:22he explained that it was hard for him to wrap his head around such an intense reaction.
04:27Now I completely get it, but at the time, you're like, you're our age, just let us out,
04:32we just want to walk down the street.
04:33Other band members weren't happy with the band for various reasons.
04:37As early as 2015, Zayn told Fader that One Direction's music was generic.
04:42In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Harry mentioned being exhausted from One Direction's
04:47relentless schedule and not wanting to disappoint fans.
04:50He was also worried about overexposure, saying,
04:53"...I didn't want to exhaust our fan base."
04:56Only Louis has spoken with unabashed positivity about his time in One Direction, saying in
05:01a 2020 Rolling Stone interview,
05:03"...I f***ing love the boys, and I love everything we've done together."