Harry Styles & Niall Horan: The Biography - Choose Your Favourite Member of One Direction. Sarah Oliver
Anne asked if they could find out from the band who had broken it. ‘They’d sit out in the garden, around the fire pit and the chairs,’ she explained. ‘Just chilling and generally getting to know each other and cracking on with some work really and breaking chair legs!’
The boys had some petty squabbles in those few weeks, which was to be expected really because they were with each other 24 hours a day, near enough. They had entered the competition as solo artists, with different musical influences, and so they had different ideas about the kind of group they wanted to be. It was really tricky trying to decide who should sing lead vocals and who would take care of the harmonies. They would have all liked to be the lead singer but that wasn’t possible, so they had to think carefully. Each of them tried out and, after many practices and discussions, found their place in the group.
For Harry and the boys, being onstage and performing was really important and they didn’t want their X Factor journey to come to an end. Liam told X Factor cameras months later during the live shows, ‘Being on stage is absolutely amazing! I mean, we only spend such a short time on it but we love absolutely every second of it. We wouldn’t change any of it, it’s great!’
Zayn admitted on the X Factor website, ‘This for us is just unbelievable! We were all sat in the car today and I think it was Liam that said, “It feels like a dream and that we’re all going to wake up and our mums are gonna be like, ‘Wake up, get ready for school!’ kind of thing.”’
‘I think it’s easy for people at home to look at us and think we’re just having fun,’ Louis continued. ‘The reason we’re having fun is because we’re working hard.’
DID YOU KNOW?
Before a performance the boys like to get in a huddle, wish each other good luck and share some private jokes. They drink water or energy drinks and Niall likes to have some lemon and ginger tea. Liam likes to do a few press-ups to focus himself and Zayn used to brush his teeth but he doesn’t do it as much anymore. Niall would change his socks and Harry would change his pants.
Harry found out pretty early on that he had much in common with Louis and they became great friends. The boys all have different personalities and have come from all corners of England and Ireland, but everyone gets on. They each bring something different to the group. If Louis had to describe the other members in one word he would pick ‘flirty’ for Harry, ‘smart’ for Liam, ‘vain’ for Zayn and ‘funny’ for Niall. Harry would pick ‘leader’ for Louis.
In an interview with the Shropshire Star, Liam said, ‘The dynamic of our band is that there are loud people and there are quiet people, and there are people in between – I would say I am probably one of the in-between people and one of the quiet people. But we all get on so well, it’s unbelievable. Everyone is just so happy to be here, we just have a laugh, 24/7. It is hard to get to sleep at night – everyone just carries on joking about.’
Louis told Digital Spy what happens when they have disagreements. ‘Because we’re around each other so often it’s like arguing with your siblings,’ he confessed. ‘You fall out with them, go away and have a bit of a paddy, then come back and get over it.’
Liam added, ‘I think every band has arguments but the funny thing is, you just get over them really quickly – they last about five minutes. You just get over it because you know we’re all going for the same thing so you just put your differences aside and get on with it.’
Harry thinks they will never have an argument big enough to split them up because they are all such good friends, they only argue over petty things.
DID YOU KNOW?
If Zayn ever causes an argument, he treats them all to a takeaway to make up for it!
After rehearsing for three weeks, some people might think that flying out to Spain was a treat for the boys – but they weren’t going on holiday. The flight was nerve-wracking, but exciting at the same time. They had put so much time into turning themselves into a group but they knew that the seven other groups flying out with them were all desperate for a place in The X Factor finals, too.
The lads couldn’t get over how luxurious Simon’s rented villa in Marbella was; it had an incredible 20 bedrooms, a home cinema and three swimming pools. They didn’t let it distract them from what they were doing, though; they had come to Spain to put on an amazing performance and they only had one chance to impress Simon with the song he had picked out for them.
Harry and the boys were aware that Simon would be looking for the whole package, so they needed to look good. They had combined their individual styles to create a unified look that complemented each member, with all of them wearing grey or white pumps, casual three-quarter length trousers or shorts and loose-fitting shirts or T-shirts. Their clothes were a combination of blue, white and brown; no one stood out in bright colours. Harry wore a scarf and Niall had a buttoned-up shirt, just as in their first auditions. (Poor Louis had a sore foot after being stung by a sea urchin and so he ended up wearing flip-flops for the performance!)
When Louis was stung while they were at the beach, he was rushed to hospital, leaving Harry and the others to rehearse on their own. They had no idea whether he would be back in time for their performance in front of Simon, so they had to consider that it might just be the four of them. ‘We’re all panicking a little bit ’cos we’re not sure what’s going to happen or when he’s going to get here,’ Zayn admitted to the X Factor cameras that day. Liam added: ‘For us that’s really bad as we haven’t had that much time to practise as we’ve only just got together as a group. I hope he’s back as we really do need him.’
Of course Harry and the others would have been able to put in a performance without Louis but it wouldn’t have been as good. Thankfully, he was dropped off at the villa just in time. The boys rushed over to their bandmate and gave him a big hug before carrying him inside. Together they walked confidently to the performing area, which was by one of the swimming pools. Simon was seated under a parasol with former 80s pop star Sinitta. She was helping him to choose the acts that he should put through to the live shows. The reunited five-piece performed the Natalie Imbruglia classic ‘Torn’: Liam sang the first verse brilliantly and then Harry nailed the chorus. Niall and Louis harmonised perfectly and Zayn finished off. It was a group effort, but each one performed wonderfully; it was as though they’d been singing together forever.
As soon as they’d finished, Simon said thanks and they walked off, thanking the guitarist and keyboard player as they passed them. Once they’d gone, Simon told his helper Sinitta, ‘They’re cool, they’re relevant.’ He could tell they’d been a bit nervous but he’d been impressed with how well they’d sung.
Harry summed up how they were all feeling, telling the camera: ‘Your hunger for it grows and grows as you get through each stage in the competition. It’s just the biggest stage to be told “yes” or “no”… it’s one word that can change your life forever because it won’t be the same if you get a “yes”, and if you get a “no”, then it’s straight back to doing stuff that kind of drives you to come here in the first place.’
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Here are the groups One Direction were competing against and the songs Simon chose for them to sing:
Husstle sang ‘Tainted Love’ by Soft Cell
The Reason sang Daniel Bedingfield’s ‘If You’re Not The One’
FYD sang ‘Beggin’’ by Madcon
Diva Fever sang ‘Love Machine’ by Girls Aloud
Twem sang Kelly Rowland’s ‘When Love Takes