Liam Payne Jokes About Zayn Malik Leaving One Direction In New TikTok

Liam Payne took to TikTok for a funny video highlighting how One Direction felt about Zayn Malik's departure in 2015. Revealing that the video had previously been saved in his drafts after having made it "a while ago," the TikTok sees the former boy band member poke fun at the band after Malik had left. Captioning the video with "POV the meeting after zayn quit," Payne utilizes the popular audio, "Are we absolutely sure what direction we're going?" to laugh at the band.

The video has quickly become Payne's most popular to date. Within less than 24 hours, Payne's TikTok has garnered over 18 million views and 5 million likes. Nearly 195,000 comments have also been made on the video, ranging from disbelief to laughing alongside the former One Direction member. Others commented that they're still not over Malik's departure of the band, as it signified the end of a dominating era in music.

Malik departed One Direction in 2015 to pursue his own successful solo career. Within six years, he has released three solo albums, including this year's Nobody Is Listening. He and his girlfriend, Gigi Hadid, welcomed their first child back in September 2020.

Following One Direction's official hiatus in 2016, Payne has gone on to have a solo career of his own. Dabbling as an EDM vocalist in a collaboration with Zedd and experimenting with future house and R&B, Payne went on to release his debut solo album, LP1, back in 2019.

One Direction fans continue to mourn the band's disbandment. While all five former members have gone on to achieve successful solo careers and dabble in more personalized sounds, the nostalgia of when the group dominated as the world's hottest boy band remains. One Direction celebrated its ten-year anniversary earlier this year, with Payne, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson sharing heartfelt posts on social media.