Official statement: https://www.facebook.com/onedirectio...69295683125227

Sad to see him leave the band, but good luck to him! Must have been too hard, those last few years/months/weeks, all that pressure and spotlight...

I get the feeling once their endless touring stops the others will split, too.

Can't say I'm surprised. The question remains, will 1D able to continue as a 4 piece? They will most definitely finish this tour but whether they will continue after that is debatable. Zayn was the best singer of the 5 of them, this will be bad for them. I mean, when Westlife became a 4 piece, they still had 2 strong singers in Shane and Mark. When it comes to 1D, all of them are just decent while Louis is truly horrible.

not surprised whatsoever. I think the '5th album' will turn out to be a greatest hits and they'll split end of 2015

I'm shocked! But, I blame the record company entirely, they worked them absolutely too hard.

They're all young lads still, and they were riding a huge wave, they could easily have taken time out between releases - if the record company had let them, that is - instead of touring constantly and doing dancing and singing every night, and living in hotels and never getting to see their friends or family. That can't be easy, no matter how good friends you are with your bandmates.

I think if any of us had the prospect of travelling and working day in day out for years with just our work colleagues and rarely getting a day off, and when you do get a day off, your friends and family aren't near you to spend time with, that would be an exhausting situation to be in.

A million tweeny girls go psychotic!

Oh no

I'm no fan of One Direction but I absolutely agree with everything that's been said in this post.

Some of the twitter reaction:

http://news.sky.com/story/1452550/tw...alik-leaves-1d

Liam and Niall aren't bad. Agree about Louis and Harry has personality but is a crap singer

I always suspected he'd be the first to go! It can't have been an easy decision to make. I'm not a fan but all the best to him.

I agree with this. But unfortunately - that is what Simon does. He works you to the bone and then when he finds someone more interesting or when your popularity tones done a bit, he leaves you like a wet towel. There has been plenty of examples.

Just a small correction: 1D never dance so their tours aren't as grueling as it was for BSB or Nsync who danced their asses off. .

His strings must be sore. I feel sorry for him.

im in no way shocked at all. I have said this on this forum 2 or 3 times recently that Zayn hasn't looked well or happy for the past year. He looks so old considering hes only early 20s and in interviews where they were promoting Four, he just looked so drained and withdrawn.

I can honestly see a greatest hits album released about November and a split announcement end of 2015

Four seems like a apt title now

I actually think he'll end up returning. The band have been absolutely huge and have been working worldwide non-stop for 5 years now without any break. They are so young as well. Zayn probably forgot what it was like to actually see his family and sleep in his own bloody bed!! Plus he's young and wants to see his girlfriend. If they had been allowed a decent break more often then I don't think this would have happened. All he's known for the past 5 years is the band. I reckon that after about a year he'll realise that he wants to return and that he misses the others, misses performing. They'll of course welcome him back into the band and then we'll have another big media frenzy that all 5 are back.

I can see them doing a Spice Girls. Doing a final/farewell tour and then releasing one last album, greatest hits possibly and then splitting up, so I can see them carrying on for another 12-18 months.

It defiantly the beginning of an end, they have lasted about the average time for a boyband. Now Zayn's gone, Liam is only really the other decent singer left and Harry could possibly leave in the near future.

Though I believe Zayn made the right decision for himself as he is obviously not very happy and he's left before he gets something like depression etc. Also it's better him leaving the band on good terms than having a massive barney or walking out off a plane/airport. So this gives the option of them getting back together for a reunion 10 years later.

YES! He looked miserable and lacklustre in performances for over a year. Good riddance

Has Osborne ordered a 20% cut here as well?

Have they really released four studio albums? I can only think of about 5 of their singles maybe six.

It's clear from this thread that not many 10 to 15 yr old girls are on DS

Could be worse it might have been a decent band.

Look in the £1 shop.

BBC Breakfast just been discussing how young groups like this are managed. Maximising exposure etc over a shortish period often results in implosion. They recalled interviewing them about 18 months ago and Zayn was remembered as being the least enthused.

This. I don't think some realise just how demanding their schedule is. They tour for around 9 months of the year, then the time they're not touring is spent writing, recording and promoting the next album before they tour again. The only shocking thing here is that this didn't happen sooner.