All the times One Direction and Zayn Malik have dissed each other

Zayn Malik left fans all over the world devastated as he announced his exit from beloved pop band One Direction back in 2015, and has since explained his reasons for doing so in several interviews.

One Direction, which now consists of members Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson was formed on the persuasion of judge Simon Cowell in the seventh series of the British singing competition The X Factor in 2010.

The group released five albums, Up All Night (2011), Take Me Home (2012), Midnight Memories (2013), Four (2014), and Made in the A.M. (2015) that topped charts in various countries and propelled the boyband to global fame and success. 

The band announced an indefinite hiatus in January 2016 to allow all members to focus on solo careers.

Since his departure from the band in 2015, the band members and Zayn Malik have thrown shade on each other many a time. Here is timeline of all such incidents:

May 2015

Fans might remember Louis Tomlinson and Naughty Boy’s Twitter Spat to end all Twitter spats over a photo of Zayn Malik in the studio with the producer. Only, it got a bit derailed.

Retweeting the photo, Louis wrote, “Remember when you were 12 and you used to think those Mac filters for your pictures were cool haha ! Some people still do HA”

Zayn shot back as he wrote: “Remember when you had a life and stopped making bitchy comments about mine ?”

July 2015

Zayn Malik signs a solo deal with record label RCA and writes that it’s time to make “real music,” taking a dig at One Direction’s music.

At the time he even said, “I guess I never explained why I left , it was for this moment to be given the opportunity to show you who i really am! #realmusic #RCA !!”

November 2015

The Pillow Talk singer yet again expressed his creative differences with One Direction’s music, calling it “generic as f****” at another point. 

"If I would sing a hook or a verse slightly R&B, or slightly myself, it would always be recorded 50 times until there was a straight version that was pop, generic as f***, so they could use that version."

January 2016

Zayn revealed to Beats 1 that he never wanted to be in the band in the first place, saying that the band was not for him as he “couldn’t put any input in.”

"I think I always wanted to go, from like the first year, really. I never really wanted to be there, like in the band. I just gave it a go because it was there at the time, and when I realized the direction we were going in - mind the pun - with the music, I instantly realized it wasn't for me, because I realized I couldn't put any input in," he admitted a the time. 

March 2016

Zayn opened up on losing contact with the band.

"I'm still probably the closest to Liam," Zayn said. "We talk on the phone... We haven't met up in a long time so we want to meet up. As for Harry, Louis, and Niall? I tried to have contact, but nobody's reached out. So... whatever."

April 2017

Harry Styles, who has since gone on to release a critically acclaimed solo album, co-chaired the 2019 Met Gala and bagged several Grammys, shared his thoughts on Zayn’s creative differences with the band’s music.

"I think it's a shame he felt that way ... but I never wish anything but luck to anyone doing what they love. If you're not enjoying something and need to do something else, you absolutely should do that. I'm glad he's doing what he likes, and good luck to him."

March 2018

Zayn Malik shocked fans by saying he didn’t make any friends in the band. In an interview with GQ, Malik said he "didn't make any friends from the band."

He added, "It's not something that I'm afraid to say. I definitely have issues trusting people.

In another interview with Vogue, Zayn admitted: “I ain't spoke to any of them for a long time, to be honest with you.

“That's just the way it is. There's things that happen and things that were said after I left. Snide things. Small things that I would never have expected.”

November 2019

Liam revealed that Zayn “didn’t even say goodbye” to the bandmates when he left the band in 2015.

"I think with Zayn’s particular exit and the way he chose to go, we haven’t really heard from him since he left," the singer told GQ magazine.

"He didn’t even say goodbye, if I am being honest. It was a really sordid scenario, from our side certainly. A bit strange. It’s difficult."

March 2020

Niall Horan told The Sun that Zayn doesn’t keep in touch with his former band members.

In reference to this he recalled saying, "He’d probably tell you that himself, to be fair. I don’t particularly talk to him a lot. I mean, if he’s got something coming out or something I will text him. He might not reply but I’ll give him a shout, but I don’t know... After the band, he left for his reasons and then he never really spoke to us much afterwards."

September 2021

Six years after Zayn Malik said farewell to the group, Liam Payne took to TikTok to poke fun at the incident.

In the video, Liam is seen miming the words: "are we absolutely sure what direction we're going?"

He added text: "POV the meeting after Zayn quit."

He urged fans to see the “funny side” of the whole affair and not to take it too seriously.

June 2022

Liam told youtuber Logan Paul he “dislikes Zayn.”

"Before we go too deeply into this, there’s many many reasons why I dislike Zayn and there’s many reasons why I’ll always always be on his side.”

He then shared empathy for the Dusk Till Dawn singer, saying, “You can always look at the man for where he is and say 'oh yeah, whatever, that guy’s a d***,' but at the end of the day once you understand what he’s been through to get to the point, and whether or not if he actually even wanted to be there..."

The Strip That Down singer added at the time, "Listen, I don’t agree with any of his actions. I can’t commend some of the things that he’s done. I can’t be on his side for that. But what I can say is that I understand, and you only hope that at some point in their life, the person on the other end of the phone wants to receive the help you’re willing to give.”

July 2023

In his most recent interview, Zayn reflected on his time with the band and explained why he left.

Speaking to host Alex Cooper during an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, he said: “I don't want to go into too much detail, but I knew for a minute there was a lot of politics, certain people didn't want to sign contracts and I new something was happening so I was like I'll just get ahead of the curb and get out of here, I think this is done.”

He added: “I completely selfishly wanted to be the first person to go and make my own record. I jumped the gun and when it comes to my music I'm serious and competitive and I wanted to be the first to do that… ”

“There was obviously underlying issues within our friendships too, we'd got sick of each other if I'm being completely honest.”

The 30-year-old also revealed how the bosses assigned different personas to the band members, saying, “They use to make out I was the serious one, the mysterious one, that wasn't really my personality type, I’m just chill, it was just a marketing scheme.”

“I get it but I don't think you can define on person as that we were a bit more complex than that. I think I just had one face to pull and that was it and fans go with it.”