One Direction band member Liam Payne hinted that former bandmate Zayn Malik won’t take part in the group’s upcoming 10-year reunion during an Instagram live session Sunday night.
Payne hosted the talk with Swedish DJ Alesso to discuss their newest musical collaboration, “Midnight.” During the chat, Directioners asked Payne about the rumored One Direction reunion in July.
The speculation came after fans noticed the One Direction website had been reactivated for the first time since the band broke up in 2016, according to E! News .
Fans also noticed that each of the band members and the official One Direction account began following ex-bandmate Zayn Malik on Twitter again. It was pointed out that Malik was no longer listed as an “ex-member” on Google and has since been re-listed as “vocals” for the band. E! News reported that all five of the band’s albums are now available on Apple Music as well.
Payne confirmed the rumors during the Instagram live video. He said the group is trying to arrange a FaceTime meeting to discuss details. However, he also said he couldn’t reveal too much information yet.
“Louis [Tomlinson] actually told me off for revealing a bit of our plans the other day, so you’re going to get me a group telling off in the group chat,” Payne told Alesso during the live session.
But then, he followed it up with some news that likely broke fans’ hearts.
“You can fill in for Zayn…join the band,” he told Alesso.
Payne first confirmed news of the reunion on April 9 during an interview with The Sun . He said he had been in contact with former bandmates Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Tomlinson.
“We’ve got a ten-year anniversary coming up so we’ve all been speaking together a lot over the last few weeks which has been really nice,” Payne said.
He isn’t the only member of One Direction being asked about the reunion. In a recent interview on SiriusXM, Styles was asked if the reunion would happen over a Zoom call, according to Capital FM . He told them that it wasn’t the reunion they had in mind and he didn’t know if “that would be the way to do it.”
One Direction rose to fame in 2010 after winning third place on the TV show The X Factor . After the show, the band went on to release five best-selling albums and win many awards, including seven American Music Awards. After taking a hiatus in 2016, the members went on to have successful solo music careers.