HARRY: It’s been amazing really, we’re very lucky that we get to tour a lot and we’ve made an album every year for the past five years.
I have chest hair that I never had before! But apart from that it’s all pretty much similar. SWEDEN: Many things have changed since One Direction started, but are there some things that remain the same? It’s not a win/lose thing - it’s, we hope that our fans like it, and if it does well that would be amazing, but that’s not ultimately what it’s about. I think we made the record - we’re very, very happy with it, we’re very proud of it - and now we’re putting it out, and it happens to be on the same day as someone else, and that’s it. I think then you don’t make it for the right reasons. HARRY: I don’t think anyone makes a record with competing with someone else in mind. Anything you would like to add to that, Harry? You know you’re gonna be up against someone in the charts - it just happens that we have fallen on the same day. I think the press have just made a bit of a deal out of it because it’s us and Justin Bieber. It’s happened to us before our first couple of albums were released on the same day as Rihanna. We just happen to be releasing our albums on the same day. NIALL: There is no need for a fight, if they are fighting. Your fans are really fighting on social networks. Any time that you can make someone who potentially might not feel as great about themselves as they should, feel better about themselves, I think that’s always a positive thing."īELGIUM: I heard that your record is coming out on the same day as Justin Bieber’s. I think it’s very important that it empowers people in general. "There’s obviously a lot of different body images that are thrown around in society in general, and some things kind of look like they’re more acceptable and some things are made to feel like they’re unacceptable. Watch our NZ exclusive roundtable interview with Harry and Niall below. New Zealand final for this year’s Rugby World Cup, we also discussed ‘Made In The A.M.’, fan empowerment, and - most importantly - when we’re going to see all four of the boys back in New Zealand next. Between a chivalrous offer of broccoli from Harry, to Niall’s prediction of an Ireland vs. Somehow they managed to break their feet within months of each other, yet seemed unfazed by the combination of injury and relentless scheduling. After five years of relentless recording and touring, the boys are finally going to get the break they very much deserve.Ĭoup De Main caught up with Niall and Harry on a comfy sofa in North London, with both boys rocking boot casts on their right feet. Others, however, seemed understanding and almost relieved. Niall and Louis took to Twitter to dispel the escalating rumours, confirming the news that many fans had dreaded. The announcement of One Direction’s forthcoming hiatus came as a shock to many, delivered as it was through the confusing hands of the British tabloid media. Many of their fans are, indeed, their peers young adults whose teenage years and early twenties have been soundtracked by the music of these boys who have grown up alongside them. It’s easy to forget that - despite their burgeoning discography - not one of Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, or Niall Horan, are more than 23-years-old. Whilst this pervasive stereotype all too often continues to saturate the derisive comments of mainstream music media, the band are acutely aware that their fanbase is an incredibly diverse community. ‘Drag Me Down’, the lead-single from the band’s fifth full-length album, 'Made In The A.M.', is a bass-heavy cut that showcases pop music moving in perfect step with the band’s maturing fanbase.Īt the group’s conception, One Direction’s followers were consistently tarred with the hysterical fangirl brush that has been reserved for boyband fans since the dawn of time. Whilst the loss of Zayn Malik is still beleaguered by media at every turn, what’s often overlooked are the huge strides already being made by the remaining four. Five years down the line from their original formation as one of Simon Cowell’s amalgamations of solo singers, they are older, wiser, and - of course - one member down from the original line-up.