Louis Tomlinson is reflecting on just how fast the night changes.
The former One Direction member remembered the day he, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and the late Liam Payne agreed to walk away from the band in 2016, and explained it being a group decision didn’t make it any less difficult.
“The room felt cold that day,” Louis recalled on the Oct. 8 episode of the Diary of a CEO podcast. “I can remember that in particular.”
And although the now 33-year-old felt the end of One Direction—which formed on The X Factor in 2010—was coming, as a “glass half full kind of guy” he originally tried to brush it off. That is, until he couldn’t anymore.
“It was awful,” he shared. “It wasn’t until after the event that I realized that I actually computed all of these feelings. But it was like I was straight grieving for it—grieving the band.”
And while he had experience with grief, Louis added that this “felt different” but was ultimately “a version of the same thing.”
“What's really fascinating is those real serious moments—we wouldn't have a lot of them in One Direction,” he explained. “We were just kind of going with the flow and really happy for each other and stuff like that. But I think those kind of moments where you have to be selfish, it was an atmosphere that I never really felt in the band.”
And as the group—which also included Zayn Malik until his 2015 departure—started “thinking more independently,” it was a shift for all of them.
“These are all the same faces that I've seen every single day, but I've never quite felt an energy like that in the room,” Louis said. “There was this emptiness. And I think probably because we knew, we all knew, collectively, where it was going.”
And as One Direction was coming to the decision to disband, Louis was adamant about not using the word “hiatus”—which was how the breakup was ultimately framed—although he realizes it was “naïve” of him.
“I remember saying, well, if I want to try and do some stuff on my own, and at this point I didn't even know what I was going to do, I was like, be good to know how long this break’s gonna be for,” he said. “So let's speculate. A year? Two years? Five years? 10 years? 15 years? I never really got an answer to that question, which I understand now.”
Looking back on it, he now realizes that those involved in the decision were probably not “brave enough to answer that question deep down.”
“I think they probably knew the reality,” Louis—who has recently admitted he can’t imagine a One Direction reunion following Liam’s 2024 death—added, “and that's why it was tough.”
For a look back at some of One Direction’s most memorable moments, keep reading.
They've Got the X Factor
Despite winning over audiences around the world, the band finished in third place behind Rebecca Ferguson and Matt Cardle in 2010.
Live From New York
The U.K. band made their Saturday Night Live debut in 2012 with an electric performance of their single "One Thing."
Winning Big at the 2013 VMAs
The band took home the coveted moonman trophy for Best Song of the Summer for their song "Best Song Ever."
Hitting the Big Screen
The band gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at live on the road of their This Is Us Tour with their concert documentary movie This Is Us.
Music Royalty
While attending the Royal Variety Performance in November 2014, the band met Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Where They Are
The band's Where We Are Tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2014, beating out Justin Timberlake, The Rolling Stones, Katy Perry as well as Beyoncé and Jay-Z's tours that year.
One Direction Minus One
In March 2015, Malik announced that he was leaving the band to launch his solo career.
End of an Era
After releasing 2015's Made in the A.M. as a foursome, Styles, Payne, Horan and Tomlinson announced that One Direction would take an indefinite hiatus.
Fatherhood
Tomlinson became a father to his son Freddie Reign in 2016. One year later, Payne welcomed his son Bear Grey with ex Cheryl Cole.
Reunion?
In 2020, fans suspected that a reunion of sorts was underway when Styles, Payne, Tomlinson and Horan all started following Malik on X—then known as Twitter—again.
Further fueling reunion rumors, Payne told The Sun at the time, "We've got a 10-year anniversary coming up so we've all been speaking together a lot over the last few weeks which has been really nice."
Another 1D Baby
Malik and his then-girlfriend Gigi Hadid welcomed daughter Khai in September 2020.
Friends First
Payne attended the London premiere of Tomlinson's 2023 documentary All of Those Voices.