Since the second One Direction began their hiatus in 2016, the guys have constantly faced the question, “When will you reunite?” But with the group’s 10-year anniversary coming up in July, that question has become more relevant than ever.
Directioners got perhaps their most promising inklings of a reunion this week, as Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson all followed Zayn Malik on Twitter. On top of that, Payne hinted in not one, but two interviews that the guys have been in touch “a lot more at the moment,” as he said on The Late Late Show With James Corden on Monday (April 13).
Whether those conversations include Malik is still unclear, especially because the “Pillowtalk” singer hasn’t said much about the 1D guys in the past couple of years. But with the rest of One Direction all releasing music within the last year, we’ve heard reunion talk from the guys quite a bit since last summer — and with the 10-year anniversary approaching, the comments have become more and more promising.
See what Harry, Liam, Louis and Niall have said about reuniting in the past several months below.
Harry Styles
Rolling Stone, August 2019: “I don’t think I’d ever say I’d never do it again, because I don’t feel that way. If there’s a time when we all really want to do it, that’s the only time for us to do it, because I don’t think it should be about anything else other than the fact that we’re all like, ‘Hey, this was really fun. We should do this again.’ But until that time, I feel like I’m really enjoying making music and experimenting. I enjoy making music this way too much to see myself doing a full switch, to go back and do that again. Because I also think if we went back to doing things the same way, it wouldn’t be the same, anyway… It’s too important to me to ever be like, ‘Oh, that’s done.’ But if it happens, it will happen for the right reasons.”
KIIS 106.5, November 2019: “I don’t think I’d ever say never. I definitely never say never. You know it was a massive part of my life and something that we always have. It’s a pretty amazing thing to be part of… If a time comes around when everyone wants to do it. We’re all going on tour but if it works out, we’ll talk about it.”
Heart Breakfast, March 2020: When asked if One Direction would do a five-way video performance like the Backstreet Boys did on the iHeart Living Room Concert For America on March 29, Styles replied, “I mean we’re not working right now, so probably not this second. It’d be an interesting way to do a reunion, for sure.”
SiriusXM, April 2020: In response to a similar question about getting on a Zoom call with the 1D guys, he said, “I don’t know if that’s the reunion that we’ve had in mind. I don’t know if that would be the way to do it. But I’ll have a quick whip-around.”
Liam Payne
Wired, September 2019: “The truth is, I think it’s a matter of when at the moment. Everyone is super comfortable doing their own thing and everyone’s really happy doing their solo stuff… It’s great to watch everybody else venturing out and doing their own thing. It’s more to do with where some other people in the band’s heads are at with it.”
SiriusXM, September 2019: “I say different times all the time, because saying] whatever I’m thinking it might happen at the time]. It’s difficult. I haven’t spoken to Harry in a while, so I don’t really know where his head is at with it. I heard he mentioned it in some sort of magazine thing or whatever the other day, which is cool. I think everybody else has been really outspoken. I think they’re ready to go whenever. Niall was ready the day we decided to stop for a second.”
The Jonathan Ross Show, October 2019: “I feel like everybody outwardly in the press has said something, but we haven’t really spoke as a collective together, so I don’t really know. All I can say is, I don’t think for at least the next two years, it’s going to happen. And I’m tired of saying dates, because people hold you to it… I don’t think Zayn re-joining] will ever happen. When he left, it wasn’t on great terms… if he didn’t want to be here, then he shouldn’t be here. Which is fine, and he’s doing really well, so I don’t want to mess with his stuff.”
Sunday Brunch, December 2019: “I think at some point we will get back together. I think we will, for sure,” he said. “I don’t know when that is yet but, all I know is there is at least two years while everyone’s just released new music where you have to go and promo and do all of that. So there’s at least two years, I know that much.”
Gulf News, December 2019: “We have been talking a lot more recently and I can’t imagine we wouldn’t finish the story where we did. However, the guys are doing so well individually and they are experiencing new things like film and TV, so it will probably be a little while if it ever happens.”
The Sun, April 2020: “We’ve got a ten-year anniversary coming up so we’ve all been speaking together a lot over the last few weeks which has been really nice. To hear a lot of people’s voices and seeing old content and different things that we haven’t seen for a long time or never seen before, it’s very interesting. At the moment I’m not sure what I’m allowed to say. There’s a number of different things that we are all working on to try and make happen and people are forwarding emails around. But more than anything it’s just been a real good time for us to connect together again.”
The Late Late Show with James Corden, April 2020: “I’m not allowed to say too much obviously, because I’d be giving it away. But we’ve been speaking a lot more at the moment. I think we’re all feeling that that 10 year is a very special moment… I had a beautiful FaceTime with Niall, who I hadn’t spoken to in a long time, and speaking with Louis. It’s been really nice, it’s a nice moment.”
Louis Tomlinson
1883 Magazine, July 2019: “There’s gotta be a reunion]! One hundred perfect. As far as I’m concerned, we are all good at doing our individual stuff right now and it’s great for yourself as an individual but the day we do get back together will be a magical day for all of us. I think everyone is in the same boat when it comes to this; it’s inevitable and the question is just when are we going to do it. Now that we are on this break, I can look back and say it was massive but looking from the other side you can see the influence and important. That’s really cool, just seeing our positive influence. We were such a powerhouse. It’s a no-brainer, I’m the first to sign the sheets to get back together.”
The Metro’s Guilty Pleasures, October 2019: “As far as I am concerned, I am happy doing what I am doing. But the day that a reunion] does happen, and everyone is ready to do it, I am ready.”
Wired, November 2019: Addressing a Google search for “Louis Tomlinson One Direction,” Tomlinson said, “That is the band I am in — was in, whichever way you look at it. Don’t really know what else to say about that good time in me life. Hopefully we come back.”
BBC’s The One Show, January 2020: “We’ve maybe been on a break maybe about four years, and I’m only just getting around to releasing my first album. Fans who follow our every move every day probably feel we’ve been, you know, not a group for a while, but actually to us, we’re only kind of — I know I’m just finding my feet, really. So I think it’ll happen at some point. It would be stupid not to, but we’re just exploring and enjoying ourselves individually.”
The Independent, January 2020: “Truthfully, none of us truly know if we’ll reform]. I just know what my gut says and my gut says we will get back together at some point. I think it was too magical for all of us to never do it again.”
BBC Breakfast, February 2020: “I’ll give you the answer I give everyone else: It’s inevitable. I don’t know when, we don’t know when. I think we’d be stupid not to get back together. But you don’t know — I’ve only just released my first album.”
Niall Horan
Zach Sang Show, October 2019: “It would be silly not to do it.”
The Telegraph, October 2019: “There was no timeline on the gap. I would have preferred if someone said five years, and it probably will end up something like that. I’m enjoying what I’m doing, but if one of the lads were to pick up the phone and say it’s time, I’d do it.”
Sunrise, December 2019: “No talk of it yet. I’m enjoying what I’m doing now… As of now, no, but if there’s a conversation down the line, let’s go.”
Glass Magazine, February 2020: “Once I’m making music for a long time at a high level, I don’t mind. When everyone is ready to do 1D again, I’ll be here. But at the moment I’m enjoying relative success on my own and it’s been so fun trying something new. Play it by ear and see what happens. I just love music.”
The Mirror, February 2020: “The answer is, we don’t know. We haven’t spoken about it, and you’ll know if we do.”
RTÉ Entertainment, February 2020: “We’d be absolutely ridiculous not to reform the band. We haven’t really spoken about the ‘whens’ but we do know we will. We have all said individually that we will and I think it would be stupid if we didn’t.”
The Late Late Show, March 2020: While Horan was hooked up to a lie detector test, James Corden asked “Do you actually think One Direction will get back together?” Horan was quick to say “Yes,” which was detected as true.
The Line of Best Fit, March 2020: “I would hate for people to be like, ‘Here they are coming for the money – because they’ve spent it all.’ I’d hate for people to think of us like that because if we’re doing it again], we’ll be doing it for the fans and obviously for ourselves too. We came from a reality TV show – people got to see how normal we were on a weekly basis and I think that was half the reason people liked us. Because they were like, ‘Fucking hell, if they can do it, then I can do it.’”
“So if and when we come back, it would be to bring the joy back to people who had missed us… and the fact that we could break the internet with that selfie! It wouldn’t be so much of an ego thing, it would be, ‘F–king hell, let’s do it again.’ That’s how I wanna do it. I wanna do it when everyone is f–king ready.”
“I’m reading a lot of 1D reunion rumours at the moment and no one’s said anything. Or maybe one of the boys has said something like “if and when” and it’s taken as “right, they’re coming back”. So I find myself answering it in a really long-winded way to cover all the ground. But the answer is: we’re all doing our own thing at the minute, but when we’re ready, we’ll let you know.”
