March 25th, 2015…that’s when it all began. I sat idly at a table in my schools drama room, opening my blueberry flavored greek yogurt when I found out. Never has my heart dropped so suddenly. “Zayn Malik QUITS One Direction,” the headline present on every social media site. If only the world of fangirls had known what was to come.

That summer, the group released their first single without Zayn. It proved to be successful, winning the fourth fastest selling album of 2015 and their fourth #1 single. Flash forward a month or so and a rep for the ban confirms an eighteen month long hiatus, with promises of the groups return. Promises are meant to be broken, right?

Yes, One Direction might be going in their own directions, but Zayn Malik’s career after the boy band seemed to be going smoothly without the four other guys by his side.

Within a year of his exit from One Direction, he released his first album, titles Mind of Mine,  and the world rejoiced. On the Billboard 200 chart, Mind of Mine debuted at #1 and after a week of its release, over 157,000 albums were sold (Billboard).

Malik recently announced the release of his self-titled book that will be available worldwide in November. He has also revealed his involvement in a brand new TV series entitled Boys, which will be based off his time with One Direction.

Liam Payne was the first of the remaining four members to branch off and (hopefully not) leave the band behind.

An Instagram post of record with his name labeled on it and the caption, “One Direction will always be my home and family but I’m very excited to see what this chapter brings,” seemed to do the trick for most teenage girls, myself included.

In July, Payne registered a new song with ASCAP, or the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. This could mean new music is on the horizon! Yay!

Harry Styles has been a busy man since the hiatus of the band officially started. He landed his first acting role for a World War II based movie, Dunkirk, (for which he had to cut his beautiful hair AGH) and is set to open in theatres at the beginning of 2017.

And although there lacks verification of an upcoming album, Styles did sign “a major record deal with Columbia Records worth $80 million (Billboard).”

Styles covers the Fall/Winter 2016 issue of a magazine called Another Man, for this cover story,  he was interviewed by Beatles legend, Paul McCartney and comedian talk show host, Chelsea Handler.

Niall Horan announced his partnership with Capitol Records by shocking the entire nation with the sudden release of his debut solo song, “This Time.” Horan has also shown a keen interest in golf, caddying for Rory Mcllory, who is one of “the world’s current most top-ranked golf players” right now (Billboard).

Back in July, he landed his first magazine cover without the other boys in One Direction. He stood next to golf superstar, Justin Rose, on the cover of Today’s Golfer. In that moment, golf was the only sport I ever wanted to watch.

Louis Tomlinson has been off the radar ever since the break began. Reasonably, he recently became a father, so an abundant amount of his time is going to his almost one year old baby boy, Freddie.

Tomlinson has disclosed his collaboration of songwriting with Liam Payne. He makes it clear he enjoys writing with him and adds they “definitely will” even if it is “up in the air” at the moment.

He, alongside Simon Cowell, are planning to create a girl group with Syco Entertainment, which is Cowell’s label.

One Direction is at a different place in their life. They’re growing older and completing side projects. Whether the group returns from the hiatus or not, I will love them and continue to support them as I grow older.