Cast your mind back to 2010, when five teenage boys of limited talent but looks and charm in abundance auditioned as solo candidates on The X Factor. Feeling each had something about them, but not enough to make it on their own, Simon Cowell came up with the idea of sticking the lot together and, hey presto, One Direction was born.
When the most successful boy band of the 21st century so far spluttered to an end (or, officially, went on hiatus) in 2016, its members went down various forks in the road. Zayn Malik tried his hand at sleazy R&B, leading to the all too prophetically titled 2021 album Nobody Is Listening. Niall Horan became the Radio 2-friendly housewives’ choice. Louis Tomlinson got into indie rock. Liam Payne discovered sex in a big (and embarrassing) way. Harry Styles, who seemed to be the quietest and most unassuming of the five, became a phenomenon.
