As One Direction stans know, it’s been rough out here since the band went on “hiatus” in 2015. Seven years later, I’m still hoping for a comeback album. And with the lads doing some serious name-dropping recently, here’s your bonafide 1D friendship deep-dive.
The most recent tea comes from gossip guru Deuxmoi, who published an anonymous tip that Louis Tomlinson had recently attended a Harry Styles concert in the US. I am simply gagged and agog at this news, as is One Direction stan Twitter I’m sure. Pour one out for the Larry Stylinson theorists.
Similarly, Niall Horan was spotted at a Harry concert back in June. I wonder if they had to fight for their lives in a ticket queue like the rest of us.
The ex-band members have mentioned each other a fair bit over the last few years, so here’s the sitch.
Louis Tomlinson speaks about his relationship with Zayn Malik
Other than the ~alleged concert sightings~ the most recent One Direction chatter sparked up thanks to an interview Louis Tomlinson gave.
He chatted to the Zach Sang Show about his current relationship with Zayn Malik, who he’s beefed with in the past.
Louis said he’s now “definitely closer to being over all that” and said he’s thought about Zayn over the years.
The two aren’t in contact at the moment though. Crying.
“I definitely wish him well,” Louis said.
Louis also said he’d been liking Zayn’s covers of 1D songs on Insta because he hoped they reminded Zayn of the band’s good times. Crying again!
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In the interview, Louis also seemed to defend Liam Payne after the latter’s cooked chat Logan Paul‘s podcast. DW, we’ll unpack all that in a second.
“[Paul] knew exactly what he was doing, the buttons he was pressing, and that’s what I took away from it,” Louis said.
“It just felt disrespectful.”
He also called out The Project when it interviewed him. The hosts brought up both the Liam situation (yikes) and the fact there’s now a Harry Styles-themed uni course (double yikes). Louis simply did not come to play.
Liam Payne’s widely-slammed One Direction takes
As we alluded to before, Liam Payne was interviewed on the Impaulsive podcast.
He *checks notes* said he was originally supposed to be One Direction’s frontman (which Lizzo called him out on), made shady comments about Zayn, and claimed he almost had fisticuffs with a bandmate.
That’s right: according to Liam, someone in the band “threw him up a wall” backstage.
“I said to him ‘if you don’t remove those hands there’s a high likelihood you’ll never use them again’,” Liam said.
Discussing Zayn, he said: “There’s many reasons why I dislike Zayn and there’s many reasons why I’ll always, always be on his side”.
In another point of the interview, Liam brought up Zayn’s parents, a choice which was called out by fans.
“If I had had to go through what he went through — with his growth and whatever else… my parents are overly supportive to the point where it’s annoying at times,” he said.
“Zayn had a different upbringing in that sense.”
In short, it was not looking good on the bestie front.
Liam later apologised after fan backlash, specifically for the Zayn comments.
“[The interviewers] mentioned a specific incident involving Zayn which I responded to – but listening back maybe I didn’t articulate myself as well as I could have,” he said.
“I was saying that there will always be things we disagree on but that I will always, always be on his side. That’s family.
“Zayn is my brother and I will stand by him forever.”
He also said he and Louis were pals — something the latter has previously said too.
Harry Styles was asked about a One Direction reunion
Harry is OFC the biggest superstar to come out of One Direction. You don’t get to not-quite-spit-on-Chris–Pine for nothing.
But he spoke about the possibility of a band reunion.
In a Spout Podcast interview in June 2022 — quite literally the same month as the Liam Payne podcast debacle — he said the idea of the band back on stage together “is a really nice one”.
“I’d love for there to be a time where it felt like something we all wanted to do,” he said, per Billboard.
Harry also said there was “a lot of love there”. Good to know.
Zayn Malik says Niall Horan is his favourite
Let’s all be honest: it’s virtually impossible not to stan Niall. And it seems perhaps even Zayn — the most vocally critical of the band — agrees.
In a 2021 radio interview, Zayn was asked who would be number two in his ranking of the group’s solo careers (with number one being himself).
“I don’t think it’s fair for me to say because I was in the band,” he said.
“I don’t think there’s a comparison.”
But on further questioning Zayn relented and said “Niall’s my favourite”.
“How about that?”
“He makes better music than me.”
TBH there’s a chance Zayn was just playing along with the interviewers’ questions but hey, ‘Slow Hands’ slaps.
Louis Tomlinson gives an insight into the bands’ shifting relationships
In a 2020 Cosmopolitan interview, Louis said that at different points in each boys’ lives, they all naturally “speak to others more than others”.
“I wouldn’t say I’m closest to any of the boys,” he said at the time.
“Recently, I’ve probably spoken to Liam 10 times as much as I spoke to the other lads.
“Six months ago, that was Niall.”
In short, the boys are not exactly all besties. RIP my personal parasocial relationship with One Direction.
Zayn said back in 2017 he didn’t “talk to any of them, really”.
“Our relationships have definitely changed since we were in a band together, but I think that’s just life.”
Of course, that was a few years ago. Based on what the others have said though, it seems to be a pretty good summary of where the band stands.
But with Zayn posting covers, Liam chatting shit and the boys attending one another’s concerts? Who knows. Maybe there’s still the chance of a reunion, even if it takes another decade and a whole host of other solo albums.
