What are One Direction doing now? We chart the 1D 'gap' year
One Direction's decision to take a sabbatical year sent the fandom into a meltdown. For the 90's girls this was like Backstreet boys all over again. And since their 'hiatus' there have been rumours that the boys wouldn't get back together. Yep, the fear is real.
Find out what Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan have been up to since they went on a break. Who bought a haunted mansion? Who is a new father, and who's got an unlikely famous friend?
Getty ImagesBand member: Harry Styles
Age: 23 years old
His gap year endeavours include: A new acting career, TV appearances, an unexpected friendship and chopping his famous locks. Oh, and releasing his new single.
The One Direction hiatus also saw the loss of Harry’s famous long locks.
The singer decided to donate his ponytail to the Little Princess Trust, a charity that provides real-hair wigs to children going through cancer treatment.
The popstar’s donation has massively helped raise the profile of the foundation that has received many donations since.
Rex FeaturesDuring his gap year Harry Styles also decided to take the musician-turn-actor road to Hollywood success. The Brit has joined acting heavy-weights Tom Hardy and Kenneth Branagh, in Christopher Nolan’s World War Two film Dunkirk.
The thriller will be released in July 2017.
While he is no stranger to hanging out with supermodels, this year has seen Harry's unlikely friendship with Cindy Crawford blossom. Harry has been spotted out for lunch in Malibu with Crawford and her family several times in summer 2016.
Has Harry found some potential new bandmates?
The heartthrob came together with Meghan Trainor to pen a new song, Someday, and it'll be a song for Michael Buble’s upcoming album. Meghan joins Michael on the track but sadly, Harry is MIA.
Alasdair McLellanHarry also found time to do an edgy photoshoot. Harry covered the November 2016 issue of Another Magazine and for the mag he was quizzed by Paul McCartney and his good friend Chelsea Handler.
Speaking about splitting off from the boys, Harry explained: “The nice thing for me is that I'm not coming away from the band feeling like I wasn't able to do what I wanted to do.
“I loved it and it was what I wanted but I'm enjoying writing at the moment; trying new things. I've been asking myself, 'What do you want to say?'
“It's this bubble where things happen around you and it's not real life. It's amazing but it's not realistic. So when you come out of it it's nice to catch up with everything.”
FlynetOut of all of the 1D boys, Harry has kept the lowest profile. There are various rumours circulating of late - that he's back with his ex Kendall Jenner, and that he's working on a new album - which we know now is true because Harry's new music is dropping on 7 April.
Jamie James MedinaIt's been a long time coming, but Harry Styles debut solo single it's finally here. Harry co-hosted the Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw on BBC Radio 1 for the release of 'Sign of the Times'. Listen to it here.
Getty ImagesBand member: Liam Payne
Age: 23 years old
2016 gap year endeavours include: Baby rumours, a social media identity crisis and more locks chopped. But more importantly, Liam has signed to Sony rival Capitol and has been working on his solo album. He has reportedly picked the name for what could be his debut single, Myself.
Rex FeaturesLiam was always the chatty one in One Direction, and he was also the one that confirmed that the "extended hiatus" will last for two years.
The star let slip the info, which had not previously been confirmed, during a gig for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge.
He explained: “Obviously we’re all going to take a break for a little bit and consider where we are in the world. I just want to write songs, that’s been the most fun process out of this, except for touring, has been the writing of the songs and we’re going to come back so there’s something to write for as well, for us and other people.
“We haven’t really had time to write an album and whereas two years off…
"Writing’s not really a job, it’s so much fun, we've always had to rush it so it’s nice in these two years I’m going to write some songs and see what happens."
He's also found love! Liam began dating Cheryl in 2015, and the pair welcomed their first child in March 2017. He described the birth of his little boy as a "moment that I will never forget for the rest of my life and my favourite memory I have so far."
His old One Direction usernames were not the only part of the past that Liam was keen to shake off. Going for a more bad-boy look, Liam shaved off his signature sculpted locks.
Liam put the spare time of his gap year to good use, changing his social media accounts usernames, and sending fans into a meltdown.
The changes were actually no big deal, from @Real_Liam_Payne to @LiamPayne. But the One Direction fandom was not happy about it, making #RIPRealLiamPayne a trending topic on twitter and scaring the hell out of some fans that were unaware of what was going on.
Liam is still focusing on his music career. Although he is not yet riding solo, the 23-year-old has partnered up with Juicy J and Wiz Khalifa on the R&B track You. He released a teaser of the song to his followers on social media back in January 2016.
Liam has also signed two major record deals ever since, with Capitol Records in the UK and Republic Records in the US.
Instagram/liampayneHe's definitely been working on his physique. The 1D star posted this abs-packed shot on Instagram, captioning it: "Downtime".
Getty ImagesBand member: Louis Tomlinson
Age: 24 years old
2016 gap year endeavours include: Becoming a baby daddy, weird conspiracy theories and doing business with Simon once again.
Taking a break from the vocals, Louis has chosen to share his skills and band knowledge by mentoring a new girl group dubbed the ‘Female One Direction’.
Speaking about his super exciting new project, Louis said: "I've got like a little label in print so I'm trying to work with that at the moment. I'm lucky enough to be working with Simon.
"We've got a few different projects going on at the moment, one of which we're trying to put a girlband together. It's just really exciting to be involved in the different side of it, the background of it."
And clearly the time he has spent with Simon has rubbed off. Louis tried his hand at judging, appearing as a guest on America’s Got Talent in July 2016. Tomlinson was all charm, sitting alongside Mel B, Heidi, Howard and Simon, and was labeled the 'nicest judge of the night'. Adorable!
But this was not Louis’ first TV appearance since the boy-band took time apart. In May 2016, Louis returned to the recording studio, but this time to voice his character in the classic American TV show Family Guy.
While all four members of One Direction were featured, only Louis and Liam actually recorded lines for the show.
Louis Tomlinson's biggest accomplishment: becoming a father for the first time.
In January 2016, Louis welcomed his son Freddie with ex flame Briana Jungwirth.
Getty ImagesLouis Tomlinson’s mother, Johannah Deakin, died at the age of 42 in December 2016 after battling with leukaemia. The heartbreaking statement read:
“It is with immeasurable sadness that Johannah Deakin’s family said goodbye to Johannah in the early hours of Wednesday 7th December 2016.
Earlier this year Johannah was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of leukaemia that required immediate and continuous treatment. We respectfully request that the family are given time and space to grieve in private.”
Rex FeaturesLouis Tomlinson has also rekindled his relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Eleanor Calder. The One Direction star and the fashion blogger broke up in 2015 after three years together but they reconnected in 2017, following his split with Danielle Campbell, and the pair are giving their romance another go.
Rex FeaturesBand member: Niall Horan
Age: 23 years old
His 2016 gap year endeavours include: Going travelling, releasing his first solo song, making a new famous friend and moving into a haunted mansion.
Following the footsteps of many celebs, in July of this year Niall purchased a new £3m home in LA.
However, clearly keen to be kept on his toes, Louis has not purchased your average LA mansion.
In 1972, Hollywood actress Gia Scala’s body was found on the premises. Several previous residents of the house moved out claiming her spirit lives on, leading to rumours that the property is in fact haunted.
Niall has also used his time apart from his 1D band members to solidify new friendships (with humans, thankfully).
More specifically with Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic. Horan was waiting in the court's tunnel to celebrate with the world number one on winning his sixth Australian Open.
Despite travelling the world as part of One Direction, following the band breakup, Niall set off for Asia and Australia with his two cousins, and claims it's where he found inspiration for his new great solo song "This Town" .
Horan also tested out a potential new career path: football player. Playing alongside Louis Tomlinson for a charity match for UNICEF, the duo's team lost 3-2, but raised over £5.4 million for the foundation - which we consider a win.
