In honor of the iconic boy English-Irish band One Direction’s 12th anniversary, the X-Factor UK recently dropped a never-before-seen video revealing how the boy band was formed.
Some Directioners may be aware that the five members of the former band actually all met as contestants on the seventh season of the British reality TV music competition X Factor UK. In 2010, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, and Liam Payne were all solo contestants competing on the show. The boys seemed down on their luck at first — they were rejected from the show’s bootcamp segment. However, this rejection was actually part of what turned things around — after the judges carefully reviewed the contestants, the five of them were handpicked to form a group.
The five were allowed to stay in the competition as a group, and eventually, they would come to be known as One Direction. From there, they went on to become one of the most successful bands to emerge from the former ITV program. They became one of the best-selling boybands of all time, topping charts worldwide.
12 years later, the band is unfortunately no longer active, but the world definitely hasn’t forgotten about their legacy as one of the most popular boy bands of all time. To commemorate the band’s anniversary, X Factor UK has released a video about how the group was formed.
In the video, the judges – Louis Walsh, Simon Cowell, and Nicole Scherzinger – were seen reviewing the contestants on the show while sifting through photos of the aspiring popstars when they formed two groups, a boy band and a girl band from the X Factor UK contenders in 2010.
Though the three judges were responsible for the guys becoming One Direction, there is one major reason they are together.
Nicole Scherzinger, a member of the Pussycat Dolls, was the one who believed in the boys’ potential and abilities as a group and originated the idea of envisioning an imaginary male band before giving up on them. She took the photos of the five boys and lined them up together to show her fellow judges her idea of putting them together in a band.
When you've waited TWELVE YEARS to find out exactly how @onedirection was formed 👀
FINALLY, here's how: https://t.co/n0l4FQPELX #XFactor #12YearsOfOneDirection pic.twitter.com/P0ix9C2FDt
— The X Factor (@TheXFactor) July 23, 2022
“They’re the cutest boy band ever. I love it. The little girls are gonna love them,” she said. “I think they’ll be really great in a boy band together.”
Unfortunately, the band is now on indefinite hiatus. The band announced its hiatus in 2016, a year after one of its members, Zayn Malik, left the group. It’s been over five years since the boyband has performed as a whole.
Despite the group’s break, the members are nonetheless thriving in their solo careers and projects. Harry recently received a Grammy award, Louis is on a solo tour across the world, Niall has published two solo albums, and Liam and Zayn are also working on their separate careers. /TV
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