What are the odds that you get to audition in a singing contest as a solo artist but went out being part of a soon-to-be biggest boyband? Well, it’s not so odd. It happened to the five young boys from UK and Ireland. They auditioned as Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, and Harry Styles but went out of the competition as a band called One Direction.
The five of them made to the second stage of the competition but got told that they were not going any further. Everyone was devastated by this announcement specifically the five boys but Simon Cowell decided that the five of them are too good to let go. Later on, Cowell announced that the boys will participate in the competition as a boyband.
One Direction placed 3rd on the contest. They thought that was the end of everything but in reality, it was just the beginning. Their debut single “What makes you beautiful” topped the UK charts while their debut album “Up All Night” became the fastest selling debut album of 2011. Their popularity had quickly spread to America and One Direction became the first UK group to have debut album reach number in the United States. It was the third global best-selling album of the year, selling over 4.5 million copies.
They are only headed in one direction and that is up. They performed their debut single at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London. They also released their 2nd album at the same year and once again topped the charts, reaching number one in over 35 countries. Additionally, Up All Night and Take Me Home were the number three and number four best-selling albums of 2012 globally, each album selling over 4.4 million units worldwide.
Another year and another new achievements. One Direction had released their 3rd album and the music videos for their lead single “Best Song Ever” broke the 24-hour Vevo record with over 10.9 million views, an achievement during that time. Their documentary and concert film grossed over $60 million worldwide and became the fourth highest-grossing concert movie. They also announced their first stadium tour and was sold out in minutes. They played 69 shows that was attended by 3.4 million fans and grossed over $290 million. It became the highest-grossing concert tour in 2014.
On September 2014, One Direction announced their 4th album entitled “Four” which became the top charted album on iTunes in 67 countries.
In February 2015, the group embarked on their 4th world tour as well as their 2nd stadium tour which now includes a two-day concert in the Philippines dated March 21 and 22. But unluckily, the Filipino fans didn’t happen to see a five-member band. On March 19, it was announced that Zayn Malik headed back to United Kingdom that caused him to miss few shows because of his ‘stress’. This occurrence shocked the whole world and many began on wondering if they should brace themselves for the downfall of One Direction.
6 days after, on March 25, 2015, the band released a statement announcing Zayn Malik’s departure from the band. Nobody was expecting this to happen yet nobody was surprised. Zayn was known to be the most reserved member in the band and he was the one who struggled the most to deal with the fame combined with the nonstop band activity. They had released four albums in less than four years while also traveling the world, one stadium at a time. It was also known for boybands to possess short shelf lives either by breaking up or becoming less relevant as the years went by.
One Direction became an enterprise with its purpose is to squeeze out every last bit of commercial content out of them before this pop culture disappears and young audiences moves on to another artist. Their success caused a toll to its members. “With that never-ending promotional cycle, the boys became superstars forever existing in a pressure cooker (Billboard, 2015).”
The now four-piece band continued with their life and concerts. Their On the Road Again tour grossed $208 million and over 2.3 million tickets were sold.
With the fourth tour now finished, there were a few uncertainties on whether the band would still continue but on July 31, 2015, the group had released the first single from their 5th album “Drag Me Down”. The single topped the charts in multiple countries but after this amazing news, they had announced that they will not be touring for their 5th album and instead will be going on hiatus in 2016. The stress from their continuous work had taken a toll on them and thus had led to a fracture.
The 5th album broke records and the band broke hearts. Louis Tomlinson announced that the hiatus will be around 18 months. It was no surprise to everyone that the band would want to rest for that long. To summarize, the band had played a total of 329 live shows in under four years. They released 5 studio albums in the span five years. The Verge had reported that no one in Pop industry works this hard. It is not hard to not understand why these boys wanted a break so bad, the numbers that they had put on board since 2011 are both surprising and alarming.
After their last performance in the X-Factor UK where their career had started, their hiatus had finally begun. After five years of being constantly on the road they finally had their rest and do their own thing and interest.
On March 25, 2016, exactly after a year since he left 1D, Zayn Malik released his debut album “Mind of Mine” and topped charts in several countries. His genre of music was very different from the usual Poppy tone of One Direction, instead he managed to focus on Alternative R&B.
Harry Styles released his 10-track self-titled debut album on May 12,2017. His first single “Sign of the Times” was ranked as the best song by The Rolling Stones in 2017 and just took 19 minutes to hit No. 1 on iTunes chart. He also did a tour that sold 1 million tickets. After almost two years, he released his second album entitled Fine Line. It debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart and number one on the Billboard 200.
On the other hand, Niall Horan first release a single on 2016 entitled This Town that also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Charts. On October 17, 2017 he finally released his debut album. The album debuted at number one. He also went on a world tour that grossed $24.7 million. He is set to do a new tour on 2020.
Liam Payne released his own album much later than the other boys and really took his time on creating his debut album. The album did well but one of the songs faced backlash after being accused of fetishizing people’s sexual identity.
Lastly, Louis Tomlinson whom just like Liam took his on releasing his album. His album, Walls, was released on January 31, 2020. Louis also released a few singles in 2016 entitled Just Hold On and Back To You. Louis faced a few struggles during this hiatus when his mother died after a long battle with leukemia as well as his sister who died from accidental overdose. Him and his family faced a lot but thanks to his fans who gave their support to him as well as the support of his close family, he managed to stand up again.
As mentioned in the first part, the One Direction boys intended to audition and enter the competition as solo artist but instead was put into a band. It can be seen that they boys had fun and were grateful during their time in the band. But due to overwork and exhaustion that their record label had put on them during those years, they decided to take a break. Nobody will know whether they will come back as a band again in the future but one thing is certain, their dream to be solo artists and making their preferred genre of music without any restrictions is finally happening. The thing that they auditioned for a decade ago is finally happening and they are ready to take the music industry by storm.
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