hi! Keen to get your view on the reason for thinking that Zayn’s leaving stopped LHs coming out. I saw this theory floating around in the past but always thought that would not be the case as at that time it was already clear that Harry was set to venture out as the solo artist eventually. Also see one of zayns recents interviews where he confirms that.
So… look. I wrote this massive thing about this, but looking along Xarry and bbg timelines and everything, I came across the wonderful @caralara’s post here which sums this up essentially just how I believe it happened too. And it’s very articulate and there are so many resources I figured it would make sense to share it as opposed to recreating almost the same post (but more messy hehe). It makes a lot of sense in terms of music industry dynamics, gives a lot of clarity and context to the stunts and timelines around the point that zayn left, and… I honestly think more people should see it to better understand bbg.
Regarding Zayn’s interview comments over the last 9 years… well… it’s been a wild ride. They started out with “I loved being in the band but I didn’t like the music we did” to “I made no friends in that time and I never spoke to Harry” to “the schedule was too tough” to “I don’t want to go into too much detail, but there was a lot of politics going on. People were doing certain things. Some people didn’t want to sign contracts,” which, well, speaks for itself. He also mentioned he wanted to be “the first person to make their own record” so it’s all a bit muddy and jumps back and forth. Also, didn’t he say that about the hiatus “Louis and Harry are the ones that know why, you have to ask them” or am I imagining that????? I swear I saw a gif of that somewhere so if anyone can help that’d be good. But also, if it was fake, then that’s fine too.
The thing is with commentary after a band splits and the member(s) goes solo, is that they are still media trained professionals. Zayn could absolutely hate those boys and rip them, and S*mon, to shreds, but he didn’t. Because there would be repercussions. There are alwaysssss repercussions. So, even though he can point to certain things vaguely, he wouldn’t out anyone or throw them under the bus, particularly the boys, if he wants to keep his career. But yeah, Harry was encouraged to go solo, and there’s that interview ot4 do on the day of their last show before the hiatus where Harry and Louis look like they’ve been arguing and Louis was very upset about the split. It would’ve caused a rift between all of them.
Not to mention that their deal would have had a clause to say “if you all get through the whole contract, you’ll all get significantly more $$ and percentages of your music, but if one of you leaves you’ll get way less than that”, and it was only one more year. One more album, one more tour. But zayn bounced for the sake of his own health, which I’m not blaming him for at all. And Harry and Louis were undoubtedly mad about that because… well… even if they signed as a group with the label and same management again, there would’ve been some pretty hefty negotiations, including coming out. But zayn left, and it encouraged the rest of them to take a break. They needed it. They deserved it.
But listen… I mean, even if you dont wanna believe the theory I linked above, it was quite obvious that harry was becoming more free and Xander and Jeff were a big part of that. Zayn left the band via a Facebook post, which was HUGE. a massive scandal. And there’s only so many scandals a PR and management team will allow before it hits the band too negatively. Anyway, that theory makes a lot of sense to me.
Anyway, if you want more clarification on what I believe or have any questions regarding that theory or why it makes sense from someone who works in the industry, or anything, don’t hesitate to ask. And sorry for taking so long to reply to you angel. Thank you for your patience!!