Hi, I agree with everything you said about the possibly return of 1D - unfortunately! I am still hoping they will announce the next tour tomorrow, but that's just me being in denial. However, I can't stop wondering why they were so insistent that this is no breakup. Why promise they will come back, saying it's a 12/18/24 months hiatus, if they know its not. What do they gain from this? I don't think it's a smart move if they want the fans to focus on their solo careers either.
I ponder this myself and I really don’t know why they are SO insistent on it being a hiatus. I do think they were just backed into a corner in interviews on the 18 months/2 years thing. I never took that as gospel. Other than that, I think there are a few reasons, and I reckon it’s probably a mix of all of them -
1) They genuinely don’t know. They were on a rollercoaster for the last 5-6 years and don’t know what life is like on solid ground. So they are hedging their bets and waiting to see how they feel. Will they miss 1D desperately after a while? Or will they enjoy other endeavours so much that 1D recedes into happy nostalgia for them and they’re content to let it stay in the past? Who knows? Probably not the boys, at least not last year when they were being pushed for a comeback date.
2)They’re still making money from 1D. They had no intention of doing a ‘final tour’ because the whole point was they wanted to get OFF tour. So they couldn’t rake in a final burst of cash that way. So better to keep pushing the catalogue and the 1D brand as an ongoing concern rather than admitting that it’s completely over.
3) Fan reaction. I’m old enough to remember the great Take That split. The numbers for mental health helplines and suicide advice were given out on the national news. When Zayn left 1D Peninsula, the leading employment law firm in the UK, received 480 calls about compassionate leave due to his departure. The boys and their management were probably advised on how to handle this. They weren’t officially splitting up, so why cause fan trauma and panic? I know people scoff at teenage girl fans freaking out over their boybands but 1D and their team know better than anyone that it is real, and it would be irresponsible not to handle it correctly.
I don’t think the uncertainty over 1D’s future will damage their solo careers. Outside the fandom, the rest of the world thinks 1D is over. Everyone I’ve ever spoken to about this IRL says, “And they’ve split now, right?”. The rest of the world aren’t expecting them to regroup in the near future. It’s only fans who are uncertain. Their solo careers will be expected.
