Boy, did Simon Cowell strike gold with One Direction. After putting Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik together on The X Factor in 2016, the members reached new heights as the group One Direction.
And although Malik may have left the group on bad terms (Thomlinson has said it was a “really sordid scenario”) back in 2015 and it’s been years since, he is often – and will continue to be – asked about his former bandmates. More recently, he was asked who his favourite member of the group was. Making an appearance on SiriusXM’s Debatable, Malik was initially asked to rank the members in terms of their music, to which he answered:
“I don’t think there’s a comparison. I’ll tell you what. Niall‘s my favourite. How about that? There you go. Niall makes the best music. “
Does he make better music than Malik himself?
“Yeah, we’ll say that. He makes better music than me. Yeah, I’m a Niall fan.”
Interestingly enough, Horan is the only 1D member that Malik has been seen publicly interacting with, having shaken his hand at the 2016 AMAs 2016.
Despite only going as far as third place in the show, 1D has won nearly 200 awards, including seven Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, six Billboard Music Awards, seven American Music Awards (including Artist of the Year in 2014 and 2015), and 28 Teen Choice Awards. Although they’re now inactive as a band, the members all have successful careers, maturing from “teen idols” into unique artists with their own individual styles, made impressive moves into acting (Harry), and even embraced fatherhood (Zayn, Liam & Louis Tomlinson).
*Cover image credits: @onedirection