Zayn Malik: What Lies Ahead
By the amount of time I spent lurking on the internet, reading stuff and communicating with friends, one would have thought I would have found out about the news through social networking sites or through the online buddies, at least. But being a lola (grandmother) mode fangirl (given the age range of the fans, 23 feels real old, but who cares?) has its ups and downs and it felt like every single time a Zayn bomb would drop (the withdrawal at the Manila and Jakarta leg of the On The Road Again Tour, for example) add the timezone variation between London and the far east, I am fast asleep. The carrots did try to wake me up, though, as was evident on the text message and missed call notifications that I saw in the morning.
When I saw a text message with only "April!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" in it and given the quick turnout of events in the past week.... I kind of knew. It could only mean one thing. What solidified this feeling is the next message coming from a very unexpected person to actually break the news in to me: my 10-year old cousin.
"Ate april umalis na si zayn sa 1d oelane to" - time sent: 5:17AM
I do not know if I should cry that it happened or smile that of all people, it was my little cousin who delivered such message. I settled on the latter.
Then I realised it was actually quite fitting for she is the one who has introduced him to me, technically speaking, when we were browsing a magazine a few years back with a photo of the group in it. I was testing her and teasing her, "Sino 'to?" "Ano naman name nito?" "Sino gusto mo sa kanila?" And she has happily answered and pointed to each of the boys as she recited their names one-by-one.
And this is when everything dramatically flashed back into me.
I am not even an avid fan (or I just refuse to be one but my actions are betraying me); I am just a carrot who appreciates feel-good music (and good-looking lads and everything British) and I only gave them a listen, watched their film, read their book mainly because the resources are available (one of my younger cousins is an avid fan and she has them) but....I am somehow affected by the news.
Zayn Malik quits One Direction. He really did, not just the tour, but for good.
Some says this would have been how it felt like should John Lennon or Paul McCartney has pursued solo careers at the height of The Beatlemania. Or to Harry Potter fans, should the Trio have decided to part ways with the franchise before it is all over (there have been talks, you know. Good thing Emma Watson could not bear seeing other actresses portraying Hermione that time. Going back...) It is bound to happen and we would have predicted it could happen after the tour, the fifth album is out and the contract has expired. He would leave the group one day, but we never would have expected it to be this soon.
Yes, he has the best vocal range of the five and even though most may argue that they are made to be huge, handling fame has never been his thing. From the interviews that I may have seen, although there is admittedly not quite a lot, you can notice how his face almost light up at the mention of his family and how they were before. Can you imagine (NBC TV Special) Niall Horan's horror at being transported via a closed van with only pillows to keep them comfortable, and yet Zayn was amused the whole ride for it has reminded him of the old days where his family would go to Manchester, riding a van with cushions at the back side?
All I can see is a boy who wanted to buy his mother a house, initially, spend free time with the family, and share his dream of making music to the world. (Circa This Is Us)
Heck, he probably has never imagined it could be quite phenomenal, being in the group. Nobody among them can really grasp what phenomena it really is, as Liam Payne has said in one of his post-Zayn departure tweets/statements. Who does, though? Even I do not totally understand.
A reason why I don't want to get fully into the fandom because of the information overload that is going to flood me that I may or may not need at the time being. Music is supposed to be one of the diversions of the stressful and taxing nature of reality. I do not want anymore drama that goes with it. And yet I feel like I have to post this official statement of a Zayn girl before he does something that will evoke hate from the bunch of youngsters (well you know how some fans are) and by the amount of tabloid articles, speculations and even exclusive, confirmed news, it seemed like he's left the group but he's not slowing down, anyway.
In fact there have been news about him signing up as a solo artist (this early stage, Zayn, really?) On the denial stage, I thought of how it is with Korean groups and their music industry, where any members could pursue solo careers without having to quit the actual group or band. Why can't it be like that?
He has already given his first interview after leaving the group which felt like a sort of closure and yet, this is where a collective cries of why's starts. Why did he leave and go solo if he knows what being out there entails? Many articles will be written and all of them will be about the same thing. But in the end it will all go down to this: people are going to believe what they want to believe.
Apparently, by his recent actions, leading a normal life means low-key projects with less responsibilities to the expecting masses. He just wanted to do his own thing. He is finally being his own man, without having to live up to what is expected of him. He will pull it through with the expectations that he has set for himself.
Currently at the acceptance stage, the good thing that we could derive from here is that he may have left but he is still in good terms with the other lads and the management. The least that we would all want is the legal drama and falling out of these kids who are technically brothers.
There is more to life than making it huge when it's not what is totally making us happy. Sometimes, we make have to huge decisions, in order to stay true to ourselves and focused on our real goals. We may never get to see him with the group (for the longest time but who knows?) again but new music will be out, sooner than we would have expected. It should never stop there. He will still be making music because it is what he loves to do. Well, that is better than totally quitting the music scene, right? Also, as Simon Cowell always says, having a great talent like that, great things are always bound to happen.
Do I approve of this move? Yes (more of that great voice, please) and no (I kind of still hated that he left the tour before the Manila leg and the fact that I was not able to see the five of them onstage together, singing that nem and ples and I still blame him for losing my voice for I sang all of his solos during the two-day gig, you know.)
Does he care? Yes (he felt sorry to the people he may have let down) and no (he's going to pursue his own music, anyway.)
Do I still like him after doing all of these? Yes. Our favourites (just like normal people like us) will do stupid things or things that people around us may not approve. We may bash them non-stop, but if we still like them after everything has been done, then that is a proof that we really like them. Let it be all about the music, as it should.
Is this the beginning of the end for One Direction? It's hard to tell, but so far they are handling the situation very well.
Can One Direction go on without Zayn Malik? Tough, but they will.
Will the Directioners ever recover? Yes, they will.
But it is okay to feel sad and pained. For now.
***
"Talaga bang umalis na, Oelane? Kamusta si Ate Den mo?"
"Medyo sad opo totoo"
"Nakakalungkot naman. Ikaw, malungkot ka din ba?"
"Opo"
"Uwian nalang kita ng donuts. Wag ka na masad"
All is well in the world.
 |
| Forever a Zayn girl. x |
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