Three members of One Direction have broken their silence about the band’s reported split, and admitted they will be taking a hiatus next year – but they insist they will return.
One Direction’s publicists refused to comment on the reports on Monday, but Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson took to Twitter to clarify their positions. Horan told fans the boyband would be “taking a well-earned break at some point next year” but said they would not be splitting. Tomlinson, meanwhile, insisted: “It’s just a break :) we’re not going anywhere!!”
Horan said the four members of One Direction have “lots we want to achieve”.
Tomlinson and Horan were followed on Tuesday morning by Liam Payne, with a series of tweets.
So glad everything has been cleared up today and ur support with it is amazing not that we could ever expect anything less your amazing
— Liam (@Real_Liam_Payne) August 25, 2015
Can't wait to put more time into everything we do and coming out with something great
— Liam (@Real_Liam_Payne) August 25, 2015
Thank you so much for everything you have done for us it's been the most amazing five years and there's so much more to come
— Liam (@Real_Liam_Payne) August 25, 2015
Harry Styles, however, has not broken his silence on the matter.
The Sun reported on Sunday night that the group would go on hiatus for a year from March 2016, and would not tour in support of their forthcoming fifth album. However, for a group of One Direction’s commercial stature not to tour an album would be very unusual, not least because of the enormous revenues stadium tours can generate for both the artist and the wider recording industry. Their 2014 Where We Are tour grossed an estimated $290m from 69 shows, making it the 12th-highest-grossing tour of all time. Their current On the Road Again tour has been hugely successful, too, taking more than $50m from its opening 13 shows in Australia and Japan, according to figures printed in Billboard.
The On the Road tour is scheduled to end on 31 October in Sheffield.
