Harry Styles Opens Up About Zayn Malik Leaving One Direction: 'We Didn't Realize He Wasn't Enjoying It'

Zayn Malik even fooled his One Direction bandmates back in 2015 when he shockingly left the band

Harry Styles opened up about Zayn leaving the band in a new interview with New Music Daily with Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s Beats 1, and just how that made the him, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan grow closer.

“It was kind of like we were sad, obviously, that someone had left, but also sad that he was not enjoying it so much that he had to leave,” Harry shared. “Because I think at the time too, the tour and everything was going so well and everyone had kind of got to this place where everyone was kind of living in a way where they I think felt pretty good. It felt like everyone was kind of enjoying it.”

He adds, “I’d say a big part of it was us kind of being like, ‘Wow.’ You didn’t realize he wasn’t enjoying it that much.”

After Zayn‘s departure, the group got even closer after.

“We were about to start recording a new album and stuff and it was like, ‘Are we recording this without him?’” Harry says. “But I’d say in the moment, I guess the four of us became closer because we were like, ‘OK, this is a hurdle that we weren’t expecting.’”

The conversations ultimately lead to whether the band would stay together.

“We’d sit down and have conversations [asking if] everyone [is] good, everyone wants to keep going and that kind of thing,” he adds. “There was a part of me where I felt like all of the decisions I’d made as an adult — that affected my life and what I was doing with my life — had been made as a group. I think there was a part of me that felt like I wanted to make some decisions for myself… I felt like I needed to make some decisions that just affect me.”

Now, Harry, Louis, Niall and Liam will all be releasing their second and debut albums this winter.