One Direction Reunion Seemingly Ruled Out By Simon Cowell

11 June 2024, 13:56

Simon Cowell doesn't believe there's a possibility of a One Direction reunion
Simon Cowell doesn't believe there's a possibility of a One Direction reunion. Picture: Getty

By Tiasha Debray

Bad news for One Direction fans as Simon Cowell has spoken out about the chances the boyband will actually have a reunion and all signs point to very unlikely.

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One Direction fans have been slowly gearing up in recent years in the hope of a One Direction Reunion show, something that’s been whispered about for a while now.

With Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson’s careers steady, Liam Payne has bounced back and even the ever-evasive Zayn Malik and just relaunched himself into the industry with the release of his latest album ‘Room Under The Stairs’ which dropped in May 2024.

Zayn’s reemergence into society was something fans latched onto in the hopes that a reunion was on its way, especially with 2025 marking 10 years since the Bradford local decided to quit the band in the first place.

Unfortunately, Simon Cowell has jumped on a podcast to dash our hopes and dreams.

Simon Cowell founded One Direction in 2010
Simon Cowell founded One Direction in 2010. Picture: Getty

Speaking to Steven Bartlett on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Simon was asked ‘Are they going to come back’, the businessman simply replied ‘I doubt it.’

The X Factor creator didn’t expand with any reasoning, he simply repeated ‘I doubt it.’

This comes after all five boys, now men, in recent years have been asked whether they’d be up for a reunion, with a positive response with Harry claiming they 'would never say never to that' last year and Liam even revealing they were all in a WhatsApp group according to The Daily Mail.

Zayn left One Direction in 2015
Zayn left One Direction in 2015. Picture: Getty

But perhaps fans should put more weight into Simon’s words, after all, it was essentially he and Nicole Scherzinger who originally formed the group after seeing the boys audition individually all the way back on The X Factor in 2010.

Despite auditioning as solo artists, the boys were lumped together to create One Direction and Simon agreed to sign them to his old record label Synco Music.

It’s this period that Simon reflects on during his interview with the podcast, where he reveals he regretted not keeping rights to the band's name.

Simon Cowell talks new boyband show, and how he built a bathroom for The X Factor!

"If one band member says for whatever reason that they don’t want to tour, it can stop the others from touring," he said as he revealed the restrictions faced now that the rights to owning ‘One Direction’ are shared ownership between the five boys.

"If you’re listening, I’ll buy it back from you," he jokingly finished off. Simon’s on the hunt again for another big boy band in the Western world and will be hosting auditions across the UK in 2024 whilst filming a documentary series.

“I’m doing it because right now, because in my opinion, I don’t think a band has been as good as One Direction since One Direction,” he said to Rolling Stone, "The only way I know [how] to put a band together is somebody has to audition. So we just thought ‘You know what, if I don’t do it this year, I’m going to really regret it.”

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