One Direction have been by some distance the biggest thing ever to come out of Simon Cowell’s X-Factor. Way back in 2010, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik auditioned for Cowell’s talent show but were cut at the “bootcamp” stage. Cowell had spotted a gap for a boy-band in the pop market and that is where One Direction’s climb to the top of the pop charts began. Cowell brought the boys together as a group and One Direction was born.
Over the subsequent five years One Direction released five smash hit albums, toured relentlessly and amassed some 200 million followers on social media. Put simply, Cowell made One Direction into the most popular band that we have seen in pop music for many years. Of course, with five albums and four huge worldwide tours in five years, it was becoming obvious that the strain was beginning to tell. One Direction fans came to believe that Cowell saw One Direction as a licence to print money and as a result he pushed them too hard.
The shelf life of a typical boy-band is usually a short one, so to some extent you can understand why Cowell pushed One Direction so hard. There has to be an element of “making hay while the sun shines,” but One Direction fans saw the strain that the boys were under as a result of Cowell’s stewardship of their career.
Many fans were upset when Zayn Malik walked out on One Direction early last year, but at the same time many were not surprised. Rumors had been circulating for months that Malik was unhappy and he later revealed in an interview with Fader magazine that he felt stifled creatively by One Direction’s management team.
Many One Direction fans were shocked when the rest of the boys announced that they were to take a lengthy hiatus. When the break began at the end of last year many One Direction fans believed that they would break free from Cowell and One Direction’s management team. Harry Styles set the ball rolling by signing new management and PR teams, and since then Liam Payne and Niall Horan have signed solo deals with rival labels away from the control of One Direction’s current management set-up.
I wonder how much front row tickets for One Direction + zayn in court are pic.twitter.com/Vr44buJfEk
— ? (@whenharrymoans) September 20, 2016
As reported in the Sun, Cowell is not impressed . Just weeks after praising Niall Horan for his loyalty and saying he expected Horan to sign a solo deal with him, Cowell is said to be fuming after being snubbed by various One Direction members.
“I hear so many things now, which they’re doing, which I’m not involved with. It’s a bit like I’m getting the hint you don’t want me to come to the party. Sorry for making you famous…”
“Look, I’m not going to lie when I hear they’re doing something, and they haven’t approached me. You think, ‘Well I would have liked you to,’ but it’s their choice. I’m not bitter – much.”
Cowell may be bitter, but many One Direction fans are delighted to see the boys map out a future away from Cowell, but obviously fans are hoping that solo deals do not spell the end of One Direction as a band. As was reported in The Inquisitr yesterday fans hopes of a reunion were boosted when One Direction’s official website added a “future events” section and a new range of merchandise. Sadly the “future events” section has been removed since yesterday.
Why’d they have to remove future events? pic.twitter.com/e5XdDrAYkZ
— NoControlProjec (@NoControlProjec) September 19, 2016
Unreality TV report that Louis Tomlinson boosted hopes still further last night when he posted that he was missing everyone on Twitter.
Lots of love to all of you ! Miss you !!
— Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) September 20, 2016
According to the Independent One Direction fans may be about to see a One Direction reunion in a way that few will have expected. It seems that a law firm in Ireland has issued a High Court action against One Direction and some of the songwriters who collaborated on some of One Direction’s hit songs.
The details of the action against One Direction have not been made public yet, but in recent months we have seen numerous lawsuits against musicians who claim that a big name artist has plagiarised their material. Perhaps One Direction are the latest to be hit by a lawsuit of this kind.
[Featured Photo by Eduardo Verdugo/AP]