One of the indisputable highlights from The 1975’s sophomore album, (deep breath) I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It, is the shimmering smash single “The Sound.” But it turns out, frontman Matt Healy almost gave his band’s would-be hit away... to One Direction.

Earlier this year, Healy spoke about his disappointing studio session with 1D and ultimately questioned the group’s “artistic credibility.” Now, in a new interview with Q magazine, he’s shed more light on that failed collaboration.

“I went into the studio with them [One Direction] for a couple of hours to work on some stuff and, funnily enough, I ended up showing them ‘The Sound’ as a suggestion, but nothing came of it,” he revealed, according to DIY. “I was asked to do it, so I thought I’d see how it all works but it just didn’t really work very well. It didn’t resonate so I thought I’d stick to my own thing.”

Considering the single’s success, he’s probably pretty OK with keeping that one to himself. Besides, there’s seemingly no bad blood between the Brit bands — Healy and Co. recently covered 1D’s “What Makes You Beautiful” for the BBC Live Lounge.

Listen to “The Sound” below, and try to imagine Niall Horan tackling that guitar solo and Harry Styles calling himself “a sycophantic, prophetic, Socratic junkie wannabe.” Ahhh... what could’ve been.