This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Purdue chapter.
You may have been following Harry Styles since he kickstarted his solo career after the split of One Direction. And for a while, you may have also followed the other members. But slowly, over time they dropped off the map and stepped out of the direct line of media. So the question is, where are they now?
We will start with Harry Styles. Since 1D, Styles has been thriving with a solo career. He has released three albums including “Harry Styles” (2017), “Fine Line” (2019), and most recently, “Harry’s House” (2022). He has had many huge hits including “Sign of the Times”, “Watermelon Sugar”, “As It Was”, and “Falling”. Styles has also dipped his toes into Hollywood with a small acting career. He has played roles in “Dunkirk” and “Don’t Worry Darling”. Overall, the 29-year-old pop star has been quite successful since the departure.
Next up is Niall Horan. While he is not nearly as hyped up as Harry Styles in today’s media, Horan has had a pretty successful solo career as well. In his time away from 1D, the pop star has released three albums including “Flicker” (2017), “Heartbreak Weather” (2020), and “The Show” (2023). Some of his more well-known songs include “This Town”, “Slow Hands”, “On the Loose”, and “Nice to Meet Ya”.
Zayn Malik is up. Following the trend, he has also released three albums since the boy band split up. His albums include “Mind of Mine” (2016), “Icarus Falls” (2018), and “Nobody is Listening” (2021). He has fewer well-known songs in comparison to Styles and Horan but his most popular songs include “Pillowtalk”, “I Don’t Want to Live Forever” with Taylor Swift, and “Dusk Till Dawn” with Sia. Aside from music, he also released an autobiography which was titled “Zayn”.
Following Zayn, we have Louis Tomlinson. Tomlinson has released two albums since the end of One Direction. His albums include “Walls” (2020) and “Faith in the Future” (2022). The only song that I personally know from his discography is “Back To You” with Bebe Rexha and Digital Farm Animals. He also released a documentary in 2023 titled “All of Those Voices”.
Last but not least, we have the final member of One Direction, Liam Payne. Payne released one album titled “LP1” (2019). His biggest song was “Strip That Down” featuring Quavo. While it sounds like he completely dropped off the map, there have been rumors that he is working on his second album.
Overall, since the band broke up, each of the members has continued with their music careers and has found varying degrees of success. I am excited to see what the future holds for the 5 previous members of one of America’s most popular boy bands!