This Is Almost Better Than a One Direction Reunion

Zayn Malik left One Direction on March 25, 2015 — do you remember where you were? I was in a meeting, where I gasped (embarrassing) and asked if I could leave (no). Malik’s departure ahead of the band’s fifth and final album was the beginning of the end for the boy band, whose remaining members, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson, released Made in the A.M. and then went on indefinite hiatus. There was always a faint hope that maybe they’d get back together once enough time had passed. When Payne died unexpectedly this past fall, the surviving members were finally seen together, at their once-bandmate’s funeral, for the first time since Malik’s departure.

Since Payne’s passing, there’s been speculation that this would be the impetus to get the boys back together; rumors swirled that they’d reunite at the BRIT awards earlier this month. There was no such reunion at the show, but what’s proven much more moving in the past few months is Malik’s slow return to the band’s music. First, he shouted out Tomlinson’s attendance at his Los Angeles show in January, then in February, he posted an audio clip on his Instagram Story of him riffing on the band’s first hit, “What Makes You Beautiful.” Last night at his concert in Mexico City — the tenth anniversary of his departure from the band — Malik sang “Night Changes” to a crowd of screaming, crying fans.

“Night Changes” is one of One Direction’s best ballads and the band’s last No. 1 single before Malik left the group. The music video, which depicts five separate dates with each member, begins with the focus on Malik and Payne. Malik has dedicated some of his concerts to Payne, displaying a large graphic that appears at the end of the night with his bandmate’s name and “Love you bro.” “I haven’t sung that song in ten years,” he told the crowd in Mexico City. “I almost cried at one point.”

While the possibility of a One Direction reunion is tempting, the likelihood still feels far off in the distance. Few pop-band reunions, however, have sated fans: Remember when NYSNC got back together to make a song for a Trolls movie? What’s been more meaningful — and respectful to the privacy of the group’s remaining members — is seeing the way they’ve started to drift back into each other’s lives and how their memories of the band have aged alongside them. That Malik returned to the One Direction discography on his own terms feels far more meaningful than a label-encouraged reunion tour or publicity stunt. There’s an earnest affection in his voice as he sings, retracing the steps of his past. He danced a little as he sang, his backup singers crooning behind him. He performed with energy and enthusiasm for the song, a significant shift from someone who once said the worst part of being in One Direction was the music itself. “Night Changes” is about aging and growing, fearing that which might come in the future and taking comfort in life’s constants. Maybe Malik has grown to appreciate One Direction’s music, or maybe he’s come to realize that what they made matters outside of his own views on it. A song you don’t like can sometimes move you to tears — it just depends on the night.

Related

• One Direction Members Honor ‘Our Brother’ Liam Payne
• Liam Payne’s One Direction Bandmates Attend Funeral
• The Boy and the Band