One Direction: What Does 'Going On Hiatus' Actually Mean?
Reports and rumors of a One Direction hiatus have been swirling for less than a day, but that's long enough for Directioners everywhere to cry collective tears of desperation. The thing is, though, that the news hasn't even been confirmed by the official 1D camp.
No doubt, the news -- that Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Niall Horan will, in March 2016, take time off from the group they've consistently recorded with and toured behind since 2010 -- is startling. Apparently, they'll put out their fifth album but won't tour behind it to focus on themselves. Harry's reportedly being groomed for a solo career, Louis might sit in the judges' chair on "The X Factor," Liam wants to focus on production and songwriting and Niall has plans for his own music, too.
Of course, 1D are far from the first pop group to take some time off, but with them, the stakes seem so much higher. What if they decide to call it quits for good? It's happened before -- then again, plenty of pop bands have taken some time away and come back energized and ready to dive back in.
If history has taught us anything, it's that there's no clear trajectory for any band taking a hiatus. It could mean so, so many different things. Like these:
The Break-Ups
Selena Gomez & The Scene
Back in 2012, Selena announced a temporary split with The Scene, citing her busy schedule and her band's desire to continue making music while she focused on filming "Spring Breakers." Three years later, Selena's released Stars Dance on her own and has Revival on the horizon -- so we can safely assume The Scene won't be getting back together anytime soon.
“It’s an interesting world where I feel like there is a lot of goodwill towards, um, that happening someday,” Nick Jonas told MTV News last year about the JoBros reconvening after their 2013 split. “I’m not counting it out, it may [happen], someday down the road but for right now my focus really is on what I’m doing and taking this time to try and kill it by myself.” For now, it looks like it's capital-o Over.
A classic case of a hiatus turning into an actual breakup. PCD claimed to not be officially donezo in 2009, but six years later, it's been nothing but radio silence (and, OK, occasional rumors). RIP PCD.
The Fake-Ups
Pete Wentz told MTV News in '09 that the band hadn't called it quits for good when it announced a hiatus, and he was right! The gang got back together for 2013's Save Rock And Roll, this year's American Beauty/American Psycho album and the mega Monumentour with Paramore.
In 2009, DK member Dawn Richard said the "Making The Band 3" group was done, but at the 2013 VMAs, they joyously proclaimed their reunion -- only to split again the following year. If 1D follows this path, fans might need to have defibrillators handy.
2004's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was effectively two solo albums sandwiched together, and after Idlewild a few years later, Andre 3000 and Big Boi parted ways to go do their own respectively things. (Dre played Jimi Hendrix in a biopic and produced a bunch; Boi released two solo LPs.) The pair reunited at Coachella in 2014 but haven't recorded since re-joining forces. Could 1D be a one-off reunion kind-of group like this?
Marcus Mumford and his (non-offspring) bandmates took not even a year off between clinching the Album Of The Year Grammy for 2012's Babel and beginning work on third LP, Wilder Mind. Hardly seems like a break at all! Not gonna lie, this seems like a likely path for 1D -- if its four members weren't so mega-huge on their own as well as in a group.
The Maybes
fun.'s Some Nights album pretty much conquered the world (remember "We Are Young," guys?!) -- but now, Jack Antonoff's got Bleachers and Nate Ruess is a solo pop star in his own right. But what about fun.? They claim they're not done, and we sure hope they're not, but then why aren't they in the studio right now? Let's hope 1D doesn't keep us wondering like this.
Party Rock hasn't been in the house since 2012, and Sky Blu maintains they'll be back. "We gonna do it right," he told MTV News in 2013 -- whatever that means, exactly.
The Madden bros haven't written a new Good Charlotte song since the group went on hiatus in 2011, but they have written for artists like 5 Seconds Of Summer -- including awesome Song of the Summer VMA nominee "She's Kinda Hot." Still, the future of Good Charlotte is a mystery.
So, what does going on hiatus actually mean for 1D? This could be a real break-up, a fake-up or a strange time of uncertainty. No matter what happens, we're gonna need a minute here. Excuse us.
