It is now just over two years since One Direction stars Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, and Harry Styles announced they were to go their separate ways. Former One Direction star Zayn Malik had already shocked fans by walking out of the groups 2015 “On the Road Again” tour. Rumors had been circulating for months that Malik was unhappy, but his departure was still a shock to One Direction fans. By the end of that tour, it became increasingly clear that One Direction was set to head in different directions.
The “On the Road Again” tour wrapped up in the U.K. at the end of October 2015, and One Direction released their last album, Made in the A.M., a few weeks later. The group also told fans that One Direction was going on hiatus for an unspecified period of time. The official reason for the hiatus was that the various members of One Direction wanted to explore their own projects for a while.
Over the past two years, a lot has happened to the members of One Direction. Harry Styles and Niall Horan have both released solo albums, while Payne and Tomlinson have solo releases in the pipeline. Styles also starred in his first movie, Christopher Nolan’s remake of Dunkirk . Tomlinson and Payne have both become fathers.
One Direction fans are a loyal bunch — they have supported each of the band members through thick and thin — but what they really want to see is a One Direction reunion. Hopes of One Direction reunion were raised earlier this week when Liam Payne stated that “One Direction is coming back around at some point.” As reported by Metro , Payne did not put a timeframe on a possible return but said that the One Direction reunion will happen “when the time is right.”
If One Direction fans were lifted by Payne’s comments, they won’t know whether to laugh or cry when they read Niall Horan’s latest comments.
As reported by Live Arena , Horan’s debut album, Flicker , topped the Billboard 200 and surprised the critics. In truth, Horan’s solo music is a long way from traditional “boy band” fare. It has a much more folksy sound and is more reminiscent of Mumford and Sons than One Direction, but of course, fans are delighted by Horan’s success.
#Flicker is out now ! https://t.co/EgTeCwvafx pic.twitter.com/KWz8PKdXxe
— Niall Horan (@NiallOfficial) October 20, 2017
One Direction fans will be less happy to read Horan’s comments in an interview with Vanity Fair . Horan revealed that he is enjoying solo success so much that he already has plans for a second solo album . Niall explained that hitting the No. 1 spot with his debut album made him want to “go and write the next album.”
“I got a goal right here. So, I don’t know, I just kinda keep my head down. It’s my first album. Everyone was a bit excited, you know. Everyone’s excited about it and stuff like that, so I’ll try and do my best on the next [album].”
It would seem that the success of Horan, and indeed the rest of the One Direction boys, in the solo world means that there won’t be a One Direction reunion anytime soon.
[Featured Image by MPI 04/MediaPunch/IPX/AP Images]
