“What Makes You Beautiful” was considered a cultural reset that was created by one of the biggest boy bands in history. The five boys that made up One Direction — Harry, Louis, Liam, Niall and Zayn — stole hearts throughout the nation (and world) between 2010 and 2015. In their five years together, the boys went on four world tours and released five albums, winning 242 awards and being nominated for 366 in total. Though you’ve surely heard of them as a group, where are the One Direction boys now?
- Harry Styles
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In the band, Harry was known for not only his talent but also his hair, which varied from big and curly to long, shoulder-length locks. Now, he is one of the largest solo artists and the 15th most-listened-to artist on Spotify ever — his most popular song being “Watermelon Sugar.” The 26-year-old released his self-titled debut album in 2017 that was more soft pop and rock. The more diverse Fine Line album followed in 2019, being pop and rock with a more hippy and psychedelic side. Both albums are tear-jerkers that show Styles’ emotional side through analysis-worthy metaphors, but they also have their share of songs to get up and dance to.
Styles has become influential to society as he pushes the barrier on toxic masculinity by wearing dresses, makeup, painted nails and pearls, showing fans that gender-specific clothing is nothing but a social construct and it’s okay to be who you want to be — not who society wants you to be. Harry encourages fans to spread more kindness and even developed the slogan “Treat People With Kindness,” while also encouraging acceptance and love to his LGBTQ+ audience.
He has done performances with some big names like Stevie Nicks, Lizzo and Kacey Musgraves, and also starred in Dunkirk in 2017. Harry plans to be in the movie The Eternals in 2021, and will also be going on his next tour, “Love on Tour.” We hope to hear more music by Harry soon and look forward to the release of his song “Golden” as a single.
- Louis Tomlinson
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Louis was known for having a big heart, a lot of jokes and the most sass in the band, but as many don’t know nor give him enough credit for, Louis wrote most of the songs on One Direction’s album Midnight Memories, and also a lot on Four and Made in the A.M. This made it no surprise that Louis’ solo career was highlighted by a lyrically touching album Walls, one that can be characterized as pop and rock. The album was extremely raw and real, even having a song called “Two Of Us” about his late mother, who passed away in 2016 of leukemia. His first single, “Just Hold On” was released in 2016 and was dedicated to her as he sang it on the X-Factor stage soon after her passing. Only three years later, Tomlinson’s sister, Félicité, passed away due to an accidental drug overdose. Louis has shown his strength as he dealt with these two major losses, and he made his pain into something beautiful that his fans could relate to through music. Eight months after its release, the album hit No. 1 on the charts in the United States and eight other countries. He’s extremely proud of how open he could be in his music and always has shown such a close bond with his fans. Because Louis loves songwriting, he’s gone on to write songs for many artists, such as Blackbear and Camila Cabello.
To add to the long list of things 28-year-old Louis can be proud of, he is the father of four-year-old Freddie, who he had with Briana Jungwirth during their four-week relationship. Fans have admitted that Louis hit “copy and paste” with Freddie, as they look just alike. In 2018, the singer of the popular song “Back to You” featuring Bebe Rexha returned to X-Factor, where his fame originated, but this time on the judging panel. Tomlinson is still dating long-time girlfriend Eleanour Calder, who he first dated during his time in the band as well. Louis has touched all of our hearts with his music and just about anything he does, and we can’t wait to hear more as he starts his world tour later this year. Don’t forget to stream Walls!
- Niall Horan
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Niall was not only the sole blondie of One Direction, but the only Irish one as well. Now he is not only 27 years old, but back to his natural brown hair. He’s experienced major success with his two solo albums and is the 212th most-listened-to artist on Spotify. His first album was called Flicker, which features his two most popular songs, “This Town” and “Slow Hands.” The album was released in 2017 and debuted at number one; it’s characterized as pop, folk-pop, and country, consisting mostly of love songs. His second album, Heartbreak Weather, was released in 2020. The album’s most popular song is “Nice To Meet Ya.” Niall revealed that he wrote this album as a concept album. If you listen to it chronologically, it starts at the beginning of a relationship and follows it to the end through the breakup. Earlier this year, he also featured on Ashe’s song, “Moral of the Story,” and fans watched an amazing friendship blossom from it as well. Another friendship Niall fans love is him and his best friend Lewis Capaldi, who was meant to join Niall on his “Nice to Meet Ya” tour before COVID-19.
Aside from his musical talent, Niall has shown his love and talent for golf as he became the director of “Modest! Golf,” formed by his old management company. It’s also recently been confirmed that Niall is in a relationship with 23-year-old Amelia Woolley, a fashion business grad. Fans immediately took a liking to her and have been excited for the couple ever since, though I’m sure we are all a little jealous. We’ll all be keeping an eye out for the new couple and hope for new music as well.
- Liam Payne
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Liam Payne was known as the dad of the group in One Direction, but now the 27-year-old crooner is a dad in real life to his three-year-old son, Bear Payne. Bear’s mom is Cheryl Cole, who met Liam for the first time when he was a 14-year-old kid with big dreams and she was the X-Factor judge. The couple split and Liam began dating Maya Henry, who he’s recently announced an engagement with.
In 2017, Payne released his first single “Strip That Down” featuring Quavo, followed by his first solo album titled LP1 that was released in 2019. The album is seen as urban pop and has some amazing features like Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Rita Ora, Zedd and more. Liam is the 476th most-listened-to artist on Spotify. Payne does a lot for his fans, making weekly update videos on YouTube and performing online concerts because of COVID-19, showing how big his heart is and reminding us why we love him so much. We hope for a second album soon; we’ll all be watching out for new music from him as we continue in 2020.
- Zayn Malik
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The day Zayn Malik left One Direction is a day we’ll never forget. It caused a lot of controversy but was a valid decision, as it was the best thing to help with his mental health issues. Malik released his first song “Pillowtalk” in 2016 and it debuted at number one on the Top 100, making him the first of the boys to top the chart. Fans have shown extreme pride in Zayn as he released his first album, Mind of Mine, in 2016, which was entirely R&B. He revealed that he always wanted to be an R&B singer, which was one reason of wanting to go solo. He’s featured in two very popular songs, “I Don’t Want To Live Forever” with Taylor Swift on the Fifty Shades Darker album, and “Trampoline” by SHAED. In 2017, Malik dropped his second album, Icarus Falls, featuring his most popular song, “Dusk Til Dawn” featuring Sia. Zayn is now 27 years old and the 98th most-listened-to artist on Spotify.
In 2015, Zayn started dating his current girlfriend Gigi Hadid, making them the most beautiful couple to maybe ever exist. Last month, the couple brought a baby girl — who is still unnamed — into the world, and fans are so excited for the happy family. We are so proud of how far Zayn has come and are excited to see where he goes from here.
Now that it’s been five years since the boys announced their hiatus and they’re all grown up, it’s easy to say that not only have they all aged like fine wine, but I’m proud of what each of them has done since their days as little boys on the X-Factor stage.