Harry Styles and Zayn Malik were once best friends when they were both singers in the popular boy band, One Direction but now they rivals and no longer friends. Sadly those times have changed and the one time friends are now bitter rivals. There friendship started to sour when Zayn Malik unceremoniously left the band in March 2015.
At the time, Zayn Malik, who suffers from anxiety and stage-fright, claimed he wanted to leave the band because he needed time out of the spotlight. However, just a few short months later he released his own solo album and proceeded to insult the very band that made him famous.
When doing promo for his album, Zayn took a few jabs at his former bandmates by saying that he was not a fan of One Direction’s music. This apparently didn’t go over well with the other boys, including Harry Styles. Zayn has since claimed the other guys from the band no longer speak to him (with the exception of Liam Payne). Zayn alleged that the other boys stopped taking his calls and eventually changed their numbers.
Zayn did tweet his condolences at fellow One Direction member, Louis Tomlinson a few months ago when Louis’ mother died of cancer, and there was a brief thaw between Zayn and Niall Horan at the American Music Awards last November when Niall approached Zayn and shook his hand, but the relationship between Zayn and his former bandmates remained frosty.
But, with the release of Harry Style’s solo album, their relationship will no doubt become even more strained. While Zayn’s debut album, released in April 2016, did very well, selling 156,000 copies in its first week and garnered mostly positive reviews, Harry’s debut album has sold 240,000 copies in its first week. Not only is Harry’s album outselling Zayn’s, music critics have been singing his praises. Rolling Stone gave his album an impressive 4 out of 5 stars and many have called him “the next David Bowie”
In a recent interview Harry Styles couldn’t help throwing a little shade at Zayn Malik by saying he had nothing but love for his former band and that he didn’t feel the need to insult One Direction or their music. It appears these former friends won’t be reconciling anytime soon.
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