Is Anybody Still Worried 1D Will Break Up?

Ah, One Direction. Whether you love them or hate them or love to hate them or hate to love them, you can't deny that they are pretty much the biggest boy band in the world right now. How do you know? Because One Direction won a Guinness World Record for it. It's about time people stop making fun and start giving the boys the respect they've earned. However, among longtime fans of the band, there's always been a lingering fear lurking in the background waiting like a prowling lion. Is One Direction going to break up? Despite all five boys (and Simon Cowell) saying that's not bloody likely, the fear still persists. One Direction released a single from their new album Monday morning and this single, and in fact their whole career to this point, is all the proof you need that they are never going their separate ways. At least, not any time soon.

The one thing that usually spells the death of any band, whether with two members or twelve, is "artistic/creative differences". You know, one person wanted to take the band's sound in one direction (pun not intended) while the rest of the band wanted to do something else instead. When these differences aren't resolved, that's when you get spin-off solo careers to explore new sounds for a while. See Panic! at the Disco and Fall Out Boy (who have since gotten back together) for examples of bands that split up to explore different, separate sounds.

Now, One Direction, sure, you can usually tell when you're listening to one of their songs. But with every new album, the boys are experimenting with different styles and genres. With Midnight Memories, they went for a more rock and roll sound that gained them fans that their initial bubblegum pop sound had alienated. If "Fireproof" is any indication, Four plans to explore some folk and country — not to mention some rap, if the rumors that Zayn Malik will rap on a track are to be believed. It was said early on that they were trying new things musically with Four, but we didn't know exactly how different until now.

The thing that makes it so unlikely that the guys are ever going to break up to pursue solo careers is the fact that they each get a say the music. "Fireproof" has Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson as co-writers. Harry Styles co-wrote a song for Ariana Grande's last album. Pretty much, it seems like if any one of the boys wants to try their hand at lyrics, or has an idea for the direction to take a song in, then they're free to mess around and see what makes it to the final cut. The fact that they can do that so easily in their early twenties when it would be expected for any or all of them to diva out and try to hog the spotlight is a true sign of how mature they are and how lasting their band is as a result of it.

So, yeah, One Direction is here to stay and you'd better get used to it if you haven't already. In the meantime, you only have 24 hours to download their new single "Fireproof" before you have to pay for it so you'd better get clicking.

Image: onedirection/Twitter