It has been four years since One Direction announced their hiatus, much to the despair of loyal Directioners. However, it looks like the band may yet get back together this year, in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic.
Page Six reveals that a One Direction 10th-anniversary celebration is being planned, either with a new television special or a new single possibly in the works. Directioners, however, should rule out a tour.
Quoting a source, Page Six claims that the members have “a lot of goodwill between them now” and are supposedly open to the idea of doing something for their 10th anniversary.
W Magazine, however, is much more cautious about the possibility of a reunion. While the publication points out that members Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Liam Payne have all re-followed ex-member Zayn Malik on Twitter, they also note that Malik has not returned the favor. Malik was the first to leave the band in 2015.
The magazine has also pointed out that there has been a lot of friction between the members in the past, with Styles even taking a jab at Malik during his 2019 stint as a host on “Saturday Night Live.”
If the reunion does push through, it wouldn’t be the first time a disbanded boyband have reunited to celebrate a milestone. Take That disbanded in 1996 and reunited in 2005. The Backstreet Boys went on hiatus from 2022 to 2004 and got back together in 2005 and have been touring ever since. *NSYNC went on hiatus in 2002 before finally breaking up in 2007, but the four members -- aside from Justin Timberlake -- performed with Ariana Grande during her Coachella set.
However, any One Direction reunion will also have to contend with the coronavirus-induced lockdowns all over the world. These lockdown has resulted in canceled or postponed events, such as the BTS Map of the Soul tour. One Direction might even take some cues from BTS, the current biggest boyband in the world, and have the 10th-anniversary performance be streamed online instead.
The possibility of holding live performances or a tour does not seem likely anytime soon as confirmed COVID-19 cases continue to rise up. As of Apr. 13, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 554,849 people are positive for COVID-19 in the United States. There have been 21,942 fatalities.
Globally, there are now 1,773,084 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus, with new cases at 76,498 people. Deaths caused by the coronavirus is at 111,652 people, with 5,702 of those being new deaths.