The One Direction guys have come a long way since the band went on “hiatus”. They’ve dropped albums full of amazing songs that proved their talents as individuals and they’ve also worked on music with some amazing people, dropping some bops that up until this day we can’t get enough of. I picked among a long catalog of songs, collaborations and performances, five of my favorite ones and I put them all together so we can relive some of them.
Niall Horan & Julia Michaels – “What A Time”
Part of Julia’s Inner Monologue Part I album, this collaboration with Niall happened in 2019 and had fans of both artists really excited for the final result. Julia was the opening act of Niall’s Flicker World Tour back in 2018 and from these collaborations flourished a beautiful friendship between Niall and Julia.
“What A Time” is beautifully written and conveys deep feelings of reminiscing about a relationship that didn’t work and it was clear to see how deep their friendship is when they performed the song live on The Late Late Show, we could see how emotional Julia felt and Niall was quick to comfort her.
We have no idea if they have plans of collab-ing again but we wouldn’t mind if they did because they sound so good together.
Louis Tomlinson, Bebe Rexha & Digital Farm Animals – “Back To You”
Louis’ second single as a solo artist after “Just Hold On” was this collaboration with Bebe Rexha and Digital Farm Animals. The song was released in 2017 alongside a movie video that shows Louis and Bebe Rexha around Louis’ hometown, Doncaster. The lyrics are about an on and off relationship and how it doesn’t matter how much you try to stay away you always keep getting back to that person, it represents the most extreme situation of that kind of relationship.
We hope to see more of Louis working with other artists, be it as a singer or a songwriter.
Liam Payne, Lennon Stella & Jonas Blue – “Polaroid”
This collaboration happened for Jonas Blue’s debut album released in 2018 and it was also added to Liam’s first solo album LP1. Liam and Lennon Stella joined their voices to give life to this song that talks about two people falling in love at the first sight and a polaroid picture is all they have of each other. We can see the story unfold in the movie video as the couple lose each other in the crowd and the guy keeps the picture in his wallet, time passes by and they only see each other again at a park with both of their children.
The media had a lot of good things to say about the song, especially about the chemistry between Lennon and Liam since their voices go so well together.
Zayn & Sia – “Dusk Till Dawn”
Released in 2017, “Dusk Till Dawn” carries Zayn’s beautiful vocals with Sia’s powerful voice singing about two lovers who are willing to do anything to stay together. The song brought Zayn back to his pop roots as the song was described as a pop power ballad. It was released along with a cinematic music video in which Zayn portrays a secret agent running away with a mysterious accomplice played by the actress Jemima Kirke. The video has over 1.7 billion views on YouTube and it’s proof of Zayn’s artistry.
Zayn has his fair share of collaboration projects but “Dusk Till Dawn” is without a doubt his most successful one.
Harry Styles & Stevie Nicks – “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”
Harry is yet to drop something official with other artists but we can’t forget all the times he performed alongside Stevie Nicks. This friendship gifted us with many performances of Stevie’s and Fleetwood Mac’s hits. In 2019 Harry was invited to perform at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Stevie Nicks and the pair once more delivered a beautiful performance, this time of Stevie’s 80’s hit “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around ”.
Even though we have the time of our lives every time Harry invites his close friends to perform with him we can’t wait to see him working in new music with other artists.
Who would you like to see working with each of the 1D boys in the future?