There was a member in the band each fan could relate to, and One Direction wouldn’t be One Direction without Zayn. Part of what made 1D so great was the unique personalities each member had. I attended numerous concerts, stayed up to listen to their new music and waited outside for hours to see them-I even had a stan account dedicated to the boys. I remember having a sinking feeling as I clicked on it, and my worst fears were confirmed.įor the past five years, One Direction was everything to me. I was at the top of the Empire State Building when I received a text with a link from my best friend. After years of trying to convince my mom to take me to visit the city I had been dreaming of living in since I could remember, she finally agreed. I was visiting New York for the first time. I found myself being disappointed, as most fans were, and then I quickly caught myself: Why did I feel entitled to a statement on what might be attached to painful memories?Īsk any 1D fan, and they will tell you exactly where and what they were doing when they found out Zayn was leaving the band. However, as I watched the rest of the members post one by one throughout the day, it became obvious that Zayn would not be doing so. It put a smile on my face to see Zayn included, and I hoped this would inspire him to potentially create a post of his own.
It was touching to see them come together and seemingly put behind their past issues for the sake of celebrating their incredible accomplishments. All of the boys except Zayn posted a picture that included the five original members Niall and Louis even tagged Zayn in their posts. His relationship with the boys became nonexistent, and that was heartbreaking for fans worldwide.Ī post shared by Louis Tomlinson One Direction’s recent 10-year anniversary on July 23, I had hoped that we would get a tweet or even an Instagram post from Zayn that would hit us with all the nostalgic feels. There was a heavy amount of shade between the members, a public feud between Zayn and Louis and reports about Zayn’s declining mental health while in the band. In the years that followed, things turned ugly. The One Direction Facebook page put out a general statement about Zayn leaving to be a “normal 22-year-old,” but still, we were left with thousands of questions as to why he really quit the band. In the group, he was notoriously branded as the “ mysterious one” in the boyband paradigm, a label he never chose for himself, which only made his departure that much more shocking. So when Zayn left 1D in 2015 to launch his solo career, I was crushed. From their documentary to their seven hour live stream, fans always felt connected to the band with an unlimited amount of content to access. We were there when they dropped their first single, “What Makes You Beautiful,” all the way to their iconic “Story of My Life.” For five years, 1D always had something new up their sleeves.
Perhaps, that is why they had such a strong impact on their fans many of us grew up alongside these five boys-Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson, who we watched from our phone and computer screens. Now, at 22, I am just as big of a fan as I was 10 years ago (maybe even more). When One Direction was formed in 2010, I was 12 years old. Fans watched these five regular boys make it in the music industry after being formed together on The X Factor.
For many, myself included, One Direction was more than just a boy band. I spent the 1 0-year anniversary of One Direction watching their old video diaries, interviews and blasting their discography on repeat.