ICYMI Liam Payne has got a new song out. It's called Familiar and is a collab J Balvin (off of Mi Gente). This, my friends, is probably why you keep seeing his little face and hearing his little voice all over the place. We’re in the middle of peak promo for the Payne and one of the things that has cropped up quite a bit in his recent interviews is the long awaited One Direction reunion.
If you cast your mind back to the end of 2015, not that long after Zayn Malik quit the band to focus on ‘begin a normal 22 year old’, you’ll vaguely remember when the worlds biggest boyband broke up. Sorry, I mean went on ‘hiatus’. Each of the remaining boyz also went their separate ways to pursue solo projects but made a point of promising their fans that this was not the end, it was just a bit of a break.
One ex-Directioner who’s really held on to this thought is our mate Liam. He was chatting to a German publication called Promiflash a couple of days ago and said those all-important, vague and easily-misconstrued words: 'I think it will happen at some point in the distant future. We’ve all spoken about it'. Cue the over excitement of 1D fans everywhere.
Our Liam has done more than take the hype in his stride, though. He's been very, erm, good, at riding the vibe and carrying it through further interviews that have since taken place. In an interview on the BBC 1 Breakfast Show this morning. In fact the first thing he referenced was a One Direction reunion and I'm not gonna lie, he sounds eager. Liam kindly clarified what he meant by what he said in that first interview, though. 'My words have been confused', he explained. 'I said we've all spoken about it which I meant in interviews we all have. I have spoken to Louis about different things, but it's a way off yet.'
He went on to explain that each of the boys working on their solo careers is probably the best thing for One Direction as a group right now. 'The only way 1D is going to be bigger than it was is if we all get big in our solo careers and we all come back together.'
Did you hear that? He said 'all'. ALL come back together. All of them. Five of them. With Zayn. 'Imagine the concert of five massive solo artists coming together and doing their own thing? You'll get five concerts in one. It can be amazing', Liam added. He sounds a bit excited, don't you think?
Either Liam is super desperate/optimistic/confused about this happening, or he knows something that we don't. Never the less, he seems pretty convinced that it's on the cards for some point in the future (after he's done his album, he said). 'Patience is key', he said. I don't know about you but I think we'll be practicing patience for a long time yet. Safe to say we'll be keeping our ears to the ground next time Zayn does an interview...
MORE: Girl Bands From The 90s And 00s That We Wish Were Still A Thing
The Debrief 90s Girl Bands
1 of 18TLC
The outfit game was so, SO strong with these three. If you don't know all the words to No Scrubs, where you been? TLC were also the biggest selling girl group in the world until the Spice Girls came along...
2 of 18tATu
Oh, what a moment for one hit wonder duo tATu. I'm pretty sure the music video to All The Things She Said is still firmly etched in your mind. It was back when 'sexy school girl' was the look.
3 of 18Misteeq
If the words 'so, so, so, scandelous' don't send chills down your spine then you need to revisit the *Eye Candy *album. Fun fact: Tina from S Club 7 was originally in the group until she landed a spot in the band.
4 of 18Girls Aloud
I have few regrets in life, but one of them has to be not giving Pop Stars: The Rivals the attention it clearly deserved because the creation of Girls Aloud was entertaining as hell. Word on the street is that lead signer Nadine is still angling for a reunion though so, watch this space.
5 of 18Sugababes
Ten points if you can name, in order, all of the members of Sugababes and which grouping they appeared in. OGs Siobhán Donaghy, Mutya Buena and Keisha Buchanan were the shit, though. And don't pretend that 'Angels With Dirty Faces' wasn't somewhere on your MySpace page.
6 of 18Atomic Kitten
Is anyone else surprised when they realise that Kerry Katona was only around for about three years? She'd left somewhere between* Whole Again* and Eternal Flame. We all enjoyed their little stint on ITV2 The Big Reunion, though. You know, before Kerry left again.
7 of 18Cleopatra
If you can't quite put your finger on why you often follow 'Cleopatra' with the words 'comin' at ya', it's down to these girls. Cleo, Yonah, and Zainam Higgins were the coolest sisters around and no, we never really understood the swimming goggles either. But Nelly never had to explain the plaster on his face so, you know...
9 of 18Spice Girls
No one knows where to start with the Spice Girls these days. And while some sort of reunion has been confirmed, a tour date is yet to be given the go ahead. Might have something to do with Victoria only agreeing to come back if she doesn't have to sing...
10 of 18En Vogue
If you're not all that familiar with the group, you'll be familiar with the song *Don't Let Go. *There are few songs that quite hit the 90s R&B nail on the head so well. You're gonna want to revisit it.
11 of 183LW
Okay we're about to take it way, way back with obscure cultural references here. But anyone who watched Nickelodeon's *Taina might remember the episode where 3LW appeared as super cool girl group Blue Mascara. They performed 3LW's best selling song No More (Baby I'ma Do Right) *and it changed my life. Obviously, if you neither remember this nor know the song, this means nothing too you. But they had another song called *Playas Gon Play *which was kind of involved in that Taylor Swift lyric lawsuit drama.
12 of 18The Cheetah Girls
Disney kids rejoice, because this was the coolest (yes, coolest) music to come out of that damn channel before High School Musical became a thing. The Cheetah Girls existed beyond their Disney TV films too, you know?
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13 of 18Blaque
Remember N'Sync? Of course you do. But do you remember that gem of a song they featured on with Blaque on? It's called *Bring It All To Me *and the music video is a lot. It has nothing on *808 *though.
14 of 18Las Ketchup
There's no shame in having attempted to type and translate the lyrics to The Ketchup Song via Google. We all did it in a desperate bid to know what we were singing while wiggling our knees and whaling our hands around to that stressful routine.
15 of 18The 411
There are two songs to recall here: Dumb (diggi-diggi-di dumb) and *On My Knees. *Their presence may have been fleeting, but they were present. For a bit.
16 of 18Dream
Dream were pretty much everything you expect from a strategically put together girl group, but even more intense. At least that's my vague memory of them and that overwhelmingly 'pop' single He Loves U Not.
17 of 18Eden's Crush
We were not first introduced to Nicole Scherzinger via The Pussycat Dolls. No, no. She first entered our lives via Eden's Crush who were formed on the American version of *Popstars. *I honestly couldn't tell you what happened to the others, but Nicole seems quite happy on the X Factor and eating Muller yogurt.
18 of 18B*Witched
Boys in trees and a hella lot o' denim. Life was so much simpler back then and we still long for those vibes.
Follow Jazmin on Instagram @JazKoposha
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.