One Direction to Go Their Separate Ways — But Promise to Reunite

LONDON — The members of the boyband One Direction are to go their separate ways — but promise they’ll reunite after a year or so. The band members — Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson — say they want to pursue individual projects, according to a report.

“The guys have been together for five years, which is an incredible run for any boyband,” a source told The Sun newspaper. “They fully deserve to have at least a year to work on their own projects. There is absolutely no bad blood between them and they are all 100% behind the decision.”

The members of the band will start their break in March after their fifth studio album is released, and there will be no tour to promote that album. However, the source insisted the separation was temporary. “It is definitely not a split and they fully intend to get back together at some time in the future,” the source said.

The news follows the decision in March by former One Direction band member Zayn Malik to leave the group. The source said that the other members of the band had already been thinking about disbanding before Malik’s move. “This was the plan with or without Zayn. In fact, the band have been making amazing music and been incredibly happy without Zayn,” the insider said. “Of course they would have preferred that he had stayed in the band, but they would have taken this extended hiatus even if he hadn’t left.”

The Sun’s Dan Wootton, who broke the story, said that the break may allow Styles to launch a movie acting career and Tomlinson to take on TV assignments. “After five years together they’re hungry to try something else,” Wootton told Sky News. “There is a lot of demand for Harry Styles to be a big solo artist and launch a Hollywood acting career, and there is a lot of speculation that Louis Tomlinson will join the ‘X Factor’ judging panel next year. Liam Payne and Niall Horan are interesting in pursuing their song writing careers.”

The band’s representatives have issued no comment.

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