One Direction should be paying for, at least, 40% of my therapy sessions. I’m sure some of you can relate to this. From the day Zayn left the band to the 18 month hiatus, 1D has been the cause of a lot of my emotional breakdowns since I was barely a teenager. I’ve been a fan– a directioner– for more than 10 years now. Yes, I feel very old, you don’t have to remind me. In my extensive experience, I’ve bought their albums, perfumes, bed sheets, shirts, notebooks, hoodies, and many more things, including tickets to see them, as soloists. Which leads me to the point of this article, what are the One Direction boys doing now after their hiatus turned out to be more of a breakup?
This “break” is still a sore topic for a lot of fans, but it’s a reality that the eighteen months became two years and suddenly, seven years had passed. And it’s even harder to accept that a 1D reunion is now more of a dream than a fact. The band has now spent more time separated than together and the conflicts between some of the members makes the reunion even more impossible. However, fans (myself included) continued to support the boys in their solo endeavors. As soloists, One Direction members have created music of different genres, reaching an array of audiences, which as a band they were limited to, and have even started in movie roles; won many awards, such as Grammys and Billboards; modeling contracts, and more. Keep reading to find out more about each member!
NIALL HORAN
If there’s one thing I can say about this Irish sensation is that he is more than ready to make 2023 his year! Niall Horan has been teasing his long awaited third album, The Show, for a couple of weeks now. Although we have to wait until June 9 to listen to the new songs, the singer just released a single called Heaven. The catchy song was the top single debut on global and UK Spotify in the first week and it’s still making numbers as the days pass.
However, this isn’t the only thing Niall has been up to lately! He is going to be one of the new coaches for The Voice. I seriously can’t wait to see him giving advice to rising singers wanting to follow their dream. New album, coach for The Voice, possible world tour coming up… He’s committed to overcoming everything after his second album, Heartbreak Weather, which had him face a lot of difficulties because of its untimely release, March 13, 2020, the same week the pandemic hit and we were all quarantined. All the tour dates got canceled, including my ticket (I still mourn that concert). Fortunately, that didn’t stop Niall from doing an online concert like some of his fellow members.
Hopefully, when the world tour dates are announced, there will be a Puerto Rico date. If that happens, expect me to be in the front row singing my heart out!
LOUIS TOMLINSON
When the oldest member of One Direction said “I’m doing a world tour,” he meant every bit of it! Although Louis Tomlinson’s tour was postponed due to COVID-19, he resumed it and finished it in September of 2022 with 81 shows across 30 countries, including Puerto Rico! I have to say his concert was one of my favorite concerts ever, so full of energy and love. Can’t wait for him to announce LATAM Tour dates for his new world tour in support of his latest album Faith In The Future, which debuted at No. 5 on Billboard 200 and No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales. This 16-song album is quickly becoming one of my favorite solo albums of the 1D boys because Louis’ lyricism is astonishing. After all, he was behind a lot of One Direction’s greatest songs. He said it himself!
Although he was the last member to release solo music and perhaps he’s not the most popular member, I consider Louis and his fanbase the most loving one our of the bunch. In almost all of his concerts, fans would plan and execute different projects, like raising pride flags in songs like ‘Only The Brave’ and playing with the flashlights in songs like ‘Kill My Mind’. He’s always checking up on Louies– Louis’ fanbase– on Twitter and making sure we’re always doing alright. With new music coming fresh out of the oven and a new world tour being cooked up, let’s hope he goes to even more countries, especially the ones that a lot of artists (and mostly their teams) tend to ignore.
On top of everything going on, Louis will also be releasing a docu-film called All Of Those Voices. This film will “take a real look at his musical journey and access to Louis’ sell-out 2022 World Tour.”
HARRY STYLES
Who doesn’t know what this beautiful man is up to these days? If it’s not because of the radio playing his singles over and over again, it’s definitely because Harry Styles is winning awards left and right and breaking records as we speak! Since he left the band, Harry has not stopped for a second. Singer, model, actor… This boy has it all! If you weren’t on social media or did not watch TV the past month, let me be the one to announce that Harry Styles won the Grammy and the Brit for Album of the Year! Also, in the Brit Awards acceptance speech, Harry thanked the members of One Direction, but most importantly, he dedicated the award to the female artists that were not nominated in the category. Harry is known for supporting a lot of causes and creating a safe space for his fans in concerts. He has even helped some fans come out!
But singing is not the only thing he has been doing so far. Harry Styles starred in two movies last year, even winning an award for My Policeman, my favorite movie of his. He has done three movies so far, including an appearance in the post-credit scene of Eternals. So it’s safe to say that we’re going to have Actor!Harry for a while now. He also launched his own beauty brand called Pleasing selling products like nail polish, skin care products, makeup, and apparel and accessories. Following his iconic motto “Treat People With Kindness,” Harry promotes love, kindness, and acceptance by supporting non-profit organizations and charities such as Queercirle, Covenant House, Cool Earth and Nest with his Pleasing collections profits. He’s also Gucci’s ambassador which allowed him to create a Gucci collection called Ha Ha Ha with creative director Alessandro Michele. Like I said, what hasn’t he done?
Harry recently won the “Major Tour of the Year” award with his Love On Tour for the second year in a row. He also received the Residency of the Year award… I mean, after 169 shows, most of them in the USA, with over 15 dates in New York alone, he sure as hell deserved those awards. I just hope he and his team decide to take a breather at some point…
ZAYN MALIK
My introverted and quiet Zayn Malik, what has he been up to these days? With the controversy of being the first to leave the band, Zayn faced a lot of hate, but also a lot of support. At the beginning, Zayn said a lot of things about the band, all of them equally good and bad. After a while though, he focused on his music and released the record-breaking and very much iconic single Pillowtalk followed by his debut album Mind of Mine (2016). Later, he released a second album, Icarus Fall, with over 26 songs! His sound, more R&B and soul-pop, can be appreciated in his third album Nobody’s Listening (2021). Almost all of the songs sound completely different to his One Direction songs, making his statement of never liking 1D songs feel more real than ever. One thing I love about post-1D Zayn is that he doesn’t shy away from his roots and belts arabic harmonies in almost all of his songs. I personally love the way he sounds in ‘To Begin Again’, ‘Dusk Till Dawn’, and ‘INTERMISSION: fLoWer’.
Zayn’s currently promoting his collaboration with ARNETTE, releasing a cover to celebrate Jimi Hendrix 80th birthday, sharing his art pieces, and posting some pictures of his face in his New York farm… Oh, to be him, happy and unbothered! He’s one of the members I feel the most proud of because he identified what made him unhappy and decided to live as normal as he could while staying out of the public eye and still doing the things he likes, such as creating music. Did I mention he posted a video singing ‘You and I’ by One Direction recently? Yeah, I still get shivers thinking about it.
LIAM PAYNE
Oh boy, if Harry is out there and Zayn is mostly quiet, Liam Payne is… well, how do I put this, he’s out there and not in the best way. The 29-year-old man managed to make not only the directioners mad but also the solo stans. In his infamous appearance in Logan Paul’s podcast, Payne mentioned a fight with an unnamed member and with the most cringe worthy tone he explained how he said to that member: “If you don’t remove those hands there’s a high likelihood you’ll never use them again.” Yikes! Yet, Liam didn’t stop there, he went as far as talking about Zayn’s parents and upbringing, and insulting his ex-band member, which did not sit well with Zayn’s stans at all. He also claimed his debut single outsold the other members, which is, in fact, not true at all. If you want to know more in depth of what he talked about in the podcast you can read about it here. Liam’s reputation has been going downhill for a while now, including the cheating rumors, but the podcast was the last nail in the coffin. After the video, Liam’s been posting IG stories with jabs at fans saying things such as “Are you going to blame me for this too?”
If a Cringe Awards was a real thing, he would have a couple of them already. This is unfortunate because for a lot of fans, 1D was a safe space, a fond memory to look back on, but now it’s becoming a tense memory knowing that the members did not like each other that much or didn’t have as much fun as we thought. Sadly, it doesn’t look like the singer will be releasing music anytime soon, either. His latest song, ‘Midnight’, was released three years ago, and he hasn’t teased any new projects. Last thing he was promoting was his participation in the Soccer Aid 2022… and his NFTs.
It’s undeniable that the One Direction boys have come far since their days in the band. They’re successful in their own ways, some more than others and some, well, questionable within their own reputations. We all miss the good days… well, maybe not all, but I sure do! Are you feeling nostalgic like me? If you still aren’t, let me try to enlighten you with this playlist curated just for this article which contains 1D’s hits and my personal faves. Let’s manifest a well deserved reunion tour and hope it’s not as awkward as I imagine it would be to put all the boys together in a single room.