No ControlHere’s How One Direction & Zayn Malik Feel Since He Left the Band in 2015

Jan 15, 2018 10:56 am

By Jennifer Maldonado

March 25, 2015 was the day Zayn Malik altered the course of One Direction's future. In a lengthy Facebook status, the band announced Z was departing the band, leaving Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne to continue on as a four-piece boy band until they went on their hiatus in December of that same year. We now have five thriving solo artists who might all be doing different things but will always share a connection to the group that turned them into the superstars they are now.

Since the "Pillowtalk" crooner made that choice to say goodbye to his life as a member of the world's biggest boy band, a lot has been said. He and Louis even got into a very public Twitter spat, which left fans feeling simply sad. They used to be such good buds and even have matching Bus 1 tattoos, so this was something we all took personally. Zayn went on to give multiple interviews expressing how pretty much during most of his time in 1D, he wasn't all that happy and was craving a different type of musical career. So more soul-crushing updates. The guys have shared their thoughts too on his decision to leave the band and what their friendships are all like now. As any Directioner knows, it's been two years worth of truth-telling that has been nothing short of dramatic. There have been plenty of ups and downs, but now it seems like all is peaceful for the most part. Things may never be the same as they were during the peak of 1D mania, but we have a feeling all five guys will forever be asked about each other and the status of their friendships.

RELATED: The Guys of One Direction Share Heartwarming Secrets About Their Friendships

Check out the gallery below to see the full breakdown of what each guy, including Zayn himself, has said about Z's choice to leave 1D and if they're even still friends anymore.

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Niall Horan

On the state of Niall's current friendship with Zayn:

"I haven't spoken to Zayn in a while. I spoke to him at Christmas then I spoke to him again a couple of months ago. Zayn’s Zayn, not a lot of people would be able to say that they get in touch with him. He’s the hardest man to get in touch with. He is always changing his number," Niall said.

On if a 1D reunion with Zayn can ever happen:

"I'm sure the fans would love it and it would be great, but again I don't know," Niall said to Dan Wootton.

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Liam Payne

On if a 1D reunion can happen with Zayn:

"I think so, but I think there's a lot of things that need to be polished out there, but that's on him really. He doesn’t really support the cause. I've spoken to Zayn since and it's all fine and good, it is what it is. If he feels hurt and scorned in some sort of way that I don’t really understand, that’s down to him so there we go," Liam said to Dan Wootton. "It is very sad because One Direction was a wonderful, wonderful time in all of our lives. It was so much fun and I don’t understand how you can come out of that experience and say the things that he says sometimes, it doesn’t make any sense to me but there you go."

On whether he knew Zayn and Harry weren't really friends:

"I don't know true or false for that one. Sometimes, people can seem like friends and maybe under the surface, they're not. I don't really know. When we were in the band, we all seemed to get along quite well up until the end of it I guess you know, after Zayn left," Liam said.

On what Zayn's role in the band's overall vibe was really like:

"I was the guy for the job. I was the talky guy. I feel like it was nice to be Zayn sometimes. He just came in and he wasn't expected to say very much, unless prompted to do so," Liam said while appearing on Radio 1's Breakfast Show With Nick Grimshaw.

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Louis Tomlinson

On how it was his late mom Johannah Deakin who told Louis he had to reconcile with Zayn:

"My mum said: 'You’ve got to get back in contact with Zayn. Life’s too short,'" Louis revealed to The Sun. "A mother’s intuition is just f—ing crazy. It always felt supernatural to me. My mum always knew what I was feeling and what I wanted. I can’t stand to hold a grudge with anyone. It doesn’t sit with me right. If there is any animosity, just clear the air. I met up with him and it was nice."

On what it's like when Louis first heard solo Zayn's song on the radio:

"It's a strange feeling but it's nice. I think a lot of us have spoken recently, me and Zayn have spoken recently, gotten to a point now where you can just really be happy for each other. Things have happened in the past, of course. It's great. His first song was an absolute smash and that's a great song. It's nice," Louis said.

On how in the early days of the band, Louis and Zayn used to really connect:

"Zayn, back in the day. He could relate to me on a nerves level. In the first year we were both the least confident. But Zayn has a fantastic voice and for him it was always about owning that," Louis said.

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Harry Styles

On how Zayn once said the music he made with 1D was not something he enjoyed listening to:

"I think it's a shame he felt that way, but I never wish anything but luck to anyone doing what they love. If you're not enjoying something and need to do something else, you absolutely should do that. I'm glad he's doing what he likes, and good luck to him," Harry said to Rolling Stone.

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Zayn Malik

On how he doesn't really speak to any of his former bandmates:

"Our relationships have definitely changed since we were in a band together, but I think that’s just life. Everybody grows up; two of the guys have got kids now. But no, I don’t talk to any of them, really," Zayn said to Billboard.

On how he never really wanted to be in 1D:

"I think I always kind of wanted to go. From like the first year really, I never really wanted to be there in the band. I just gave it a go because it was there at the time and then when I realized the direction we were going in with the music, I instantly realized it wasn't for me because I realized I couldn't put any input in. I couldn't give my opinion on this or that because it didn't fit the grain of what we were as a band or what we represented. So that's when it became frustrating for me, that's when I had to be like, 'I've got to start thinking about myself,'" Zayn said."I think the boys kind of knew in terms of the music, that wasn't my cup of tea. They knew that, they were aware of that, always. They would try to facilitate certain things for me so I could sing R & B ad-libs here or there and that was nice but obviously I think they always knew. When I was leaving the band, they obviously didn't want me to leave, but they couldn't talk me out of it at that point. I had already made up my mind so I just left," he said.

On which member of 1D Zayn was the closest to after he left the band:

"I’m still probably the closest to Liam. We talk on the phone. He congratulated me on my single. Which was nice. I congratulated him on his Brit Award," Zayn said. "It was a good chat. We hadn’t met in a long time so we want to meet up."

On his lack of a friendship with Harry:

"To be honest, I never really spoke to Harry even when I was in the band. So I didn’t really expect that much of a relationship with him," Zayn said to Us Weekly.

On his friendship with Louis:

"Yeah we spoke about that, we’re in touch, everything is on a civil level. It’s not the way it used to be, obviously we were a lot closer because we were together the entire time, spending 24 hours a day in the band and now we’re not so we’re living our own lives, we’re all growing as individual men and we still keep in touch and check in with each other not as much as we used to," Zayn continued to Us Weekly.

On how Zayn felt being labeled the mysterious one in the band and what he really thinks of his five years as a member of One Direction:

"In terms of me being described as the mysterious one, that was put on me as a stigma because I didn’t get the chance to speak as much. The other boys' personalities were much more forward. They would answer the questions. I would let that happen because, like I said, I didn’t have any creative input there. I didn’t feel like I was going to say anything about it anyway. Now I get to talk about what I’m passionate about—it’s nice to have the chance to speak," Zayn said to Complex. "No one can ever say I was ungrateful, even though it sort of comes across that way when I mention that I was frustrated with the band. That’s not the case at all. That was just an experience that had to be dealt with at the time. With the music that I’m doing now, I get to express myself, and that creative tension is gone."

This post was originally published on Oct. 23, 2017 and has since been updated.