One Direction

            One Direction is a British/ Irish boyband that got their start on the popular music competition X Factor. The band was formed in July of 2010 when the five boys were eliminated as solo artists but were put into a group instead. The original members are Louis Tomlinson, 23, Zayn Malik, 22, Liam Payne, 21, Niall Horan, 21, and Harry Styles, 21. The band has rocketed to success within their first few months as a band and have even surpassed The Beatles in musical standings.

The band built up their following throughout their time on the UK X Factor and made it all the way to the semi-finals where they came in first place. They were taken under Simon Cowells wing even though they didn’t win and their careers skyrocketed from there on.

            They started recording their first album, Up All Night, which was released in the UK in 2011 and became one of the UK’s fastest selling albums. The album was preceded by the release of their debut single, What Makes You Beautiful, which is the bands most well-known song to date.

The band signed to Columbia records in the US and released the album across the pond and became the first ever debut album from an English act to ever debut at number one. The amazing success of the album led the band to tours of Europe, Australia, America, Canada, and the UK. Also, the band released a live tour DVD for the fans that couldn’t make the shows (like me).

In November of 2012 the band released their second studio album, Take Me Home, which held the top spot on the Billboard 200 and sold over 500,000 copies worldwide in its first week in the United States alone. Prior to their Take Me Home Tour the band released a cover of One Way or Another and Teenage Kicks for the nationwide UK Comic Relief charity.

During their Madison Square Garden show, the band recorded the performance for the tour documentary This Is Us, which showed the boys on tour, at home and even had famous appearances from Chris Rock, and the very people that brought the five people into this world. The movie was released in theaters as a 3D experience and took over 60 million dollars worldwide.

By the time 1D released their third album, Midnight Memories, they had already announced their third world tour, The Where We Are Tour. This was the band’s first ever stadium tour and was also turned into a concert movie. The film showed the San Siro performance in Milan, Italy. The fans were the real starts, however, as they turned the stadium into an amazing picture of UK flags during “Right Now”, a photo album with each fan bringing a baby picture for “Story Of My Life” and an astounding duet with the band throughout their performance.

In November of 2014, FOUR, was released worldwide and topped the Billboard Top 200 chart as well as the UK Album Chart. Shortly after this release the band began the Australian and European leg of their On The Road Again Tour, and before the European leg ended the tensions began to run high among the band members and the media. Over the years the members were constantly targeted by the media on anything that would get people to read. After nearly five years this still isn’t something a person just gets used to and Zayn was accused for the last time of cheating on long term girlfriend/fiancée Perrie Edwards who is also an X Factor alumnus. Zayn took a break from the tour to calm down and reconnect with himself, Perrie and his family. On March 25, 2015 Zayn and the bands management announced Zayn’s departure from the band which caused a massive uproar amongst the fans and the rest of the world. There is much controversy of Zayn’s true intentions and there are a multitude of rumors swarming about the subject still, nearly a month later.

I personally won’t believe any of the rumors unless Zayn admits them himself or there is hard evidence. As far as I am concerned he left for his happiness and that is all I want for any of them. They deserve to be happy and they deserve privacy. I think people should leave them alone unless they are in public as Zayn Malik of One Direction or Louis Tomlinson of One Direction, etc. not plain Zayn Malik from Bradford, or Louis Tomlinson from Doncaster.

I have loved this band for about for or so years and they are one of the only pop acts that I like. I have seen them in concert twice and I have met some amazing people through this band. I am proud to call myself a fan and if you ask me Zayn will always be a member of the band.