{"id":45870,"date":"2015-03-28T11:30:42","date_gmt":"2015-03-28T03:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=45870"},"modified":"2015-03-28T11:30:42","modified_gmt":"2015-03-28T03:30:42","slug":"5-become-4-one-direction-says-zayn-malik-has-left-the-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/03\/28\/5-become-4-one-direction-says-zayn-malik-has-left-the-group\/","title":{"rendered":"5 become 4: One Direction says Zayn Malik has left the group"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"One<\/a>
One Direction during their Up All Night tour. Fiona McKinlay \/ Flickr<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LONDON\u2014And then there were four: Zayn Malik said Wednesday he is leaving chart-topping boy band One Direction \u201cto be a normal 22-year-old.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an announcement that broke teenage hearts and sent social media into a tizzy, Malik\u2019s bandmates said they were sad to see him go \u201cbut we totally respect his decision and send him all our love for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malik, who quit the band\u2019s world tour last week citing stress, said in a statement that his time with One Direction \u201chas been more than I could ever have imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, after five years, I feel like it is now the right time for me to leave the band,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d like to apologize to the fans if I\u2019ve let anyone down, but I have to do what feels right in my heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am leaving because I want to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although rumours had swirled that Malik was unhappy in the band, fans expressed surprise at the news.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a bit shocked as to why he\u2019s leaving,\u201d said 19-year-old student Sophia Staite.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems strange. It seems they could have gone on for much, much longer, they do have the best fan base of any group or singer. It\u2019s quite sad because they have always been quite a close band.\u201d<\/p>\n

One Direction, which is currently on a world tour, said it would continue with the four remaining members and would record a new album later this year.<\/p>\n

Last week Malik flew home from a tour stop in the\u00a0Philippines, citing stress.<\/p>\n

Malik\u2019s departure from the tour came after he hit back at rumours of trouble in his relationship with fiancee Perrie Edwards of the band Little Mix.<\/p>\n

Before his departure authorities in the\u00a0Philippines\u00a0imposed a $5,000 \u201cweed bond\u201d on Malik and fellow band member Louis Tomlinson<\/a>, with the money to be forfeited if either was caught using or promoting illegal drugs.<\/p>\n

A video that circulated online last year appeared to show Malik and Tomlinson smoking cannabis and joking about drug use.<\/p>\n

The next scheduled date on One Direction\u2019s \u201cOn the Road Again\u201d tour is in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Saturday.<\/p>\n

One Direction formed in 2010 after five teenagers\u2014Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Tomlinson and Malik\u2014auditioned individually for the British TV talent show \u201cThe X Factor.\u201d Simon Cowell had the idea of putting them together as a boy band.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t win the competition, but they went on to top charts and win young hearts around the world with their cheeky personalities and perky pop.<\/p>\n

Cowell said he had grown \u201cvery, very fond\u2014and immensely proud\u201d of Malik over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for One Direction, fans can rest assured that Niall, Liam, Harry and Louis are hugely excited about the future of the band,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But music industry watchers, and fans, expressed uncertainty about whether the band could continue without Malik.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just changing everything in their dynamics,\u201d said student Alia Alhaddad, who had been glad to see a handsome performer with Pakistani heritage in a successful band.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to see someone familiar in a band like that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis voice is different from the rest of them, he makes a difference to the group. In terms of their separate careers, it\u2019s hit or miss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Associated Press Writer Gregory Katz contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON\u2014And then there were four: Zayn Malik said Wednesday he is leaving chart-topping boy band One Direction \u201cto be a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":45871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hollywood","mauthors-jill-lawless","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}