One Direction, commonly abbreviated as 1D, are an English-Irish pop/pop rock band formed in 2010. The group are composed of four members, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson; the fifth member Zayn Malik left in March 2015. The group signed with Syco Records after finishing third in the seventh series of The X Factor in 2010. The band went on indefinite hiatus on January 2016, allowing all of the remaining members to pursue other projects.
History[]
In 2010, all five members auditioned as solo contestants for the seventh series of The X Factor. They all qualified to the bootcamp, but were eliminated individually at the third day of bootcamp. The member were instead formed a five-piece boy band. At "Judges' houses", they performed for the first time as a group with an acoustic version of "Torn". The group quickly gained popularity across the UK.
The group finished third place in the competition and their song "Forever Young", which would have been released had they won The X Factor, was leaked onto the internet. One Direction shortly been signed to Syco Records. Recordings for their debut album began in January 2011, where they flew to Los Angeles to work with RedOne.
One Direction's debut single, "What Makes You Beautiful" was released in September 2011 and debuted on the United Kingdom Singles Chart at #1 on September 18, 2011. It became the third fastest selling single of 2011, selling 153,965 copies. The song also reached #1 in Mexico, Ireland and Scottland. It peaked at #4 in the United States, but reached #1 on the US Dance Club Songs chart. Since then, they released subsequent singles "Gotta Be You", "One Thing" and More Than This - with One Thing becoming a worldwide top ten hit. In November 2011, they signed with Columbia Records in the US. That same month, they released their debut studio album, Up All Night.
In September 2012, they released the single "Live While We're Young" to global success. Few months later, "Little Things" was released, it became the band's second number one single in the UK, after "What Makes You Beautiful". That same month, the group released their second album Take Me Home. The bands second album was released on November 12, 2012. The singles Live While We're Young, Kiss You and Little Things all found immense success, with Live While We're Young debuting at #3 the Billboard Hot 100, and Little Things being certified platinum after shipping 1,000,000 copies. One Direction embarked on their second headlining Tour, the Take Me Home Tour, on February 23, 2013. On August 20, 2013, One Direction's debut concert film, This Is Us premiered worldwide.
One Direction's third album, Midnight Memories, was released on November 25, 2013, and presented a rockier sound from the band, as well as a departure from the bubblegum pop sound and lyrics. The album also saw the band creative contributions increase with Louis and Liam each co-writing ten tracks, Harry co-writing five tracks, Niall co-writing three tracks and Zayn co-writing two. Four singles we're released - Best Song Ever, Story of My Life, Midnight Memories and You & I - With Best Song Ever and Stoy of My Life becoming worldwide hits. One Direction's third headlining tour, Where We Are Tour, began on April 25, 2014.
Their Fourth Album, Four, was released on November 17, 2014. The album again featured each member contributing to the majority of the album's writing. Lois and Liam both co-wrote nine tracks, Harry wrote five tracks, while Niall and Zayn both co-wrote three. Two singles we're released - Steal My Girl and Night Changes. The band embarked on their fourth headlining tour, On The Road Again On February 7, 2015. Zayn left the band on March 25, 2015, citing exhaustion and a desire to live a more normal life. The band continued the world tour and it concluded as intended on October 31, 2015.
The group's fifth album, Made in the A.M. was released on November 13, 2015. The album saw the most creative contribution from the band member's so far, with Lois contributing ten co-writes, Harry contributing seven, Liam contributing six and composing two and Niall contributing four. Three singles we're released - Drag Me Down, Perfect and History - with Drag Me Down debuting at #1 in 13 countries, and eventually becoming one of the highest selling songs of 2015. Perfect was also successful, reaching #1 in 4 countries, and peaking at #2 in the UK, #4 in Australia and #10 in the US. History peaked at #6 in the UK and #3 in Scottland.
On 23 August 2015, UK tabloid publication The Sun reported One Direction would be taking a break in 2016, but used the tagline "This Is The End", which worldwide media outlets then used to report the band was splitting up. On August 25, Niall confirmed on Twitter that the band would take a break from touring, but said they had no plans to split up. Louis also tweeted saying "we're not going anywhere". The hiatus is the band's first, and only, break from touring and collaborating together since 2010.
All four members defined the hiatus as a "well-deserved" break they will eventually return from as a group. Niall stated, "It seems like no matter how many times we say that we are not breaking up, the more people are convinced we are breaking up, so I have given up trying to explain it. It will be good to be able to get home a bit more, because that really is the only downside of the gig. All four members continue to acknowledge the anniversary of the band's formation on July 23 each year. An end date for the hiatus will not be confirmed until each member is ready to return to the group.
In the September 2016 issue of AnOther Man Magazine, Harry stated "I would never say we'll never do anything again, but it's good for us to be exploring different things. Maybe at some point everyone will want to do something again but it's better if it happens naturally, like, "Hey we all really want to do this again". If that were to happen, it'd be amazing. I would never rule that out. It's the most important, greatest thing that ever happened to me, being in that band. It completely changed my life". On September 29, 2016 Niall told Capital FM a reunion was inevitable, stating "For the foreseeable, we're doing our own thing. We still talk all the time. It could be one year, could be two, but it'll definitely happen there's no doubt about that." He elaborated further in a November interview, stating "We just felt like it was the right time. I can’t really put anything to it. It wasn’t something we delved into and thought ‘is this the right time to do this?’. We just thought ‘let’s take a break’ and we will get back into it in a couple of years or something. I am sure once everyone starts getting bored again, we will be like ‘Hey, are you ready?".
In April 2017, Harry elaborated on One Direction's reason for their hiatus in a Rolling Stone interview, stating: "I didn't want to exhaust our fan base. If you're shortsighted, you can think, 'Let's just keep touring'. But we all thought too much of the group than to let that happen. You realize you're exhausted and you don't want to drain people's belief in you. I love the band, and would never rule out anything in the future. The band changed my life, gave me everything". Interviewer Cameron Crowe stated in a subsequent interview that Harry "defended the future of the band". Harry further elaborated on French TV show Quotidien, stating "It’s been a lot of fun. We were very lucky to get to do some amazing things at the moment in our lives. We’re in a time where everyone’s trying their own thing and having a good time. It’s been amazing to see everyone do so well. If I can do as well as the other boys, that’d be amazing. As of 2020, they had 7 year-end singles solo and band on Billboard.
Members[]
| Name | Position(s) | Years active |
|---|---|---|
| Inactive members | ||
| Harry Styles | N/A | 2010-2016 |
| Niall Horan | N/A | 2010-2016 |
| Liam Payne | N/A | 2010-2016 |
| Louis Tomlinson | N/A | 2010-2016 |
| Former members | ||
| Zayn Malik | N/A | |
Discography[]
Studio albums[]
- Up All Night (2011)
- Take Me Home (2012)
- Midnight Memories (2013)
- Four (2014)
- Made in the A.M. (2015)