Fandom Culture: Zayn Malik’s Departure from One Direction
On March 25th 2015, a Facebook announcement from one of the biggest current bands caused worldwide repercussion, that definitely exceeded all the expectations of the people related to what had happened. “After five amazing years,” said the announcement, “Zayn Malik has decided to quit One Direction.” With the band’s success, it would be impossible that the departure of one of the members wouldn’t been considered big by fans across the world, but the reactions that came with it are extremely important for the comprehension of how the entertainment industry functions.
Put together in The X-Factor UK in 2010, One Direction was made of five members, who, originally, auditioned as solo artists. Zayn, as well as Liam, Louis, Niall and Harry, didn’t make it through one of the phases and were invited to become part of a band, which could give them the opportunity to continue in the show and, possibly, win a record deal by the end of it. Nearing the end of their teenage years, with ages between 16 and 18, it was inevitable that their answer would be a yes, of course. They’d go through the experience of being part of a boyband — a type of group that was extremely successful during the 90s — if that meant they’d get the opportunity of showcasing their talent to the audience.
Week after week, the votes kept coming in, the public showing a big amount of fidelity to this boyband that didn’t bother with dance routines or matching outfits. It didn’t matter that the performances consisted of the five of them standing behind microphones while dancers in the back did all the choreography. The public was charmed by these five boys, especially due to the opportunity of watching behind the scenes videos, in which they acted like normal boys and, therefore, allowed this illusion of a more personal contact between them and the fans.
When they were eliminated in the finals, Zayn took the microphone to say it wouldn’t be the end of One Direction. One week later and a contract had already been signed — six months later and they had a busy schedule for the next two years. With the easiness that had been selling the band and their image, it wasn’t a surprise to anyone that the first album started being recorded only months after the end of the show, with a due date of November 2011.
The following years were extremely busy for the band. Five albums to be recorded in five years and four tours to be done in four years, none of the members had the possibility of spending more than three, four months a year at home with their families. This routine isn’t that much common for celebrities with the same level of fame as the band. Pop artists like Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber –all of them have the period of two years, or more, to release new albums, only touring during the year in which they aren’t busy with recording. However, in an industry where boybands and girlbands have a short-span career, it was inevitable that the rhythm to be followed would be even faster than usual in pop industry.
Social media was fundamental for One Direction to have reached the level of fame they did so quickly. Back when boybands were in the top of the charts — *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys with their constant “battles” — the access to the members was more complicated than it is today. With Social Medias like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, there’s an illusion of a closer contact to your favorite band. Suddenly, they are one tweet away, or one DM away. Pictures of their personal lives are shared in their Instagram accounts and reach a hundred, two hundred, five hundred thousand likes in less than a minute. Privacy starts being breached, the fans feel entitled to commenting on the life of their favorite artists, completely ignoring the existence of a “fourth wall”, of a limit, and that’s where the illusion of an intimate relationship comes from.
The band’s success is partially due to the songs that fit the musical taste of people who are fans of pop music and also to the marketing strategy that worked to make the images selling the members. Harry Styles, 21, the youngest member of the band, has curly hair, green eyes and a charm that made it possible for him to be dubbed the “ladies’ man”. With a harmless beauty and a typical pop singer voice — and also for being the one that, seemingly, had the biggest chances of being the first to go for a solo career — he had his image sold as the band’s frontman.
The image used for One Direction as a whole, together with the illusion of an intimacy between the fans and the artists due to social media, became a particular and dangerous case. By allowing the fans to think that the relation they have with the band is the same they have with friends and family, they are lead to believe that it’s acceptable for demands to be thrown at the boys constantly, without them even realizing that they weren’t entitled to be demanding at all. The problem is not the fans as people, but becoming aware that the entitlement exists and should be worked on. What needs to be understood is that the job of an artist is to provide quality entertainment pieces to their fans — and that’s it. One Direction’s job, and each of theirs as professional singers, is to fulfill that within contractual obligations. It’s the recording of albums in the expected time, participating in events and doing shows and tours so the fans can have a closer contact to their music. It’s not in an artist’s contract to submit themselves to the level of public exposure bands like One Direction do, but even then, they understand that it’s a consequence of their job. There’s a line that is frequently crossed, and in excess, by One Direction fans.
In example, back in 2012, one of the members Liam Payne, 22, walked down the streets of New York when a fan felt the right to harass his girlfriend at the time, Danielle Peazer. Liam was put in a delicate situation — at the same time he was in the obligation to defend his girlfriend, had he said something in a ruder tone to the fan, certainly there would’ve been a big repercussion online. He’d be considered as someone who doesn’t care about the fans, who doesn’t stop to give them attention, and cares more about his personal life than about the people “paying for his bills.” A video of fans yelling at Liam for not stopping to take pictures when he was going to a restaurant is an example of that. The fans believe that the fact that they support One Direction through campaigns and by buying their products they are entitled to act towards the members and the people in their lives in the way they want.
This product sold, and therefore the entitlement come thereafter, relates in the same to Zayn’s departure from the band. In the four years of which he spent in the band, Zayn wasn’t mostly known by his vocal talent, despite that being what fans or the general public should notice in a vocal artist, and this was influenced greatly by his being the only man of color in the band. With a white mother and a British-Pakistani father, Zayn grew up in the Pakistani culture. Further than that, Zayn is a Muslim and has never seemed to have the intention of hiding his culture or his religion from anyone. On the contrary, he’s known for having tweeted #FreePalestine in 2014 a tweet he has not deleted after receiving several death threats and being associated to terrorist groups, issues he has dealt with his entire time in the spotlight.
One of the obvious situations of racism and islamophobia that he endured occurred in 2011. The band had just arrived in LAX when Zayn was subjected to further inspection, simply because his name was similar to a name that was in the FBI’s Wanted list. It didn’t matter that he was only eighteen years old, or that he clearly was arriving in the country to work on his album with his band — he was forced to wait until someone from his team could prove that he definitely wasn’t the person the FBI was looking for. Another instance was in American comedian Bill Maher thinking it would be a great joke to comment that Zayn looked like Dzhokhar Tsamaev, the man responsible for the bomb during the Boston Marathon, back in 2014. More recently, the Huffington Post twitter posted a link to their article talking about the terrorist group SIS, using Zayn’s image in a way to attract attention to it.
Those occurrences of racism are only a few in the five years he’s been a public figure. One of the most concerning questions is the lack of interest by their team’s part to do something when it came to Zayn’s image. On the contrary, he was sold as the mysterious one, the broody and “exotic” — referring to PoC as exotic is a form of racism and no, human beings cannot be exotic — of the band. Zayn’s first solo interview with Fader magazine discussed this image, in saying that, “there were plenty of times where an interviewer, having only asked questions of his bandmates, would turn to him and suggest, ‘Zayn you’ve been awfully quiet.’”. His experience as a Muslim man of color in a white lead industry wasn’t made easy by the lack of compromise when it came to the band’s PR team to look after his image.
By leaving Zayn was, therefore, attacked not only by part of the media, but also by his own fans, tying back to the entitlement. While the One Direction fandom accused him of betrayal, and letting down the fans and the other members of the band, the media used of the image created on him to sell that he was characterless, selfish and lacked consideration for his own fans. Regardless of him making a point to share about staying in the band for years only for the fans, there’s still attachment, by their part, to a false sense of closeness. Their hurt becomes valid due to this illusion and entitlement and, therefore, so does the hatred towards him.
An important factor of his personality, essential for understanding of who Zayn truly is, is the fact that he made it obvious that he was staying true to himself. Even with the reactions of his old fans, he kept quiet for months, up until he made an appearance at Paris Fashion Week, in June. With shaved and platinum hair, Zayn sat front row in both the fashion shows he attended, making it clear that he intended on continuing to work on his public figure profile and that, this time, he had a team interested in making it work for him. It wasn’t about shining a light on false statements concerning him anymore. In order to rid him of the image built through the years, it was important to almost start over, to put him in a situation that, during his years in the band, he wasn’t a part of, but that would bring a positive perspective. It was also reassurance to his fans, a way to prove that he wasn’t turning his back on them like many tabloids speculated he would.
In August, came the announcement that he had ended his four year relationship and two year engagement with also singer Perrie Edwards, 22. In the matter of minutes, there were already rumors that he had broken up with her through text message — a rumor that was denied by Zayn himself in his Fader interview-, but that didn’t stop him from working on his solo career. A few days later, came the confirmation that he had been signed to RCA Records and that he was working with Grammy-winner producer Malay Ho, responsible for Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange amongst others.
Suddenly, the focus became the music Zayn is going to put out. Even if still in big quantity, the articles that worried more about the contrived image revolving around him became less common and were replaced by articles that speculated about the musical style of his album. The interview he did for Fader, accompanied by a video with shots of Zayn in places around his house in London and the instrumental of one of his upcoming songs as background music, was responsible for the change, even if small, to the way people see him. He’s extremely honest in his opinions, making it clear that One Direction’s music has never been his type of music, but not taking away the credit of the band for all their accomplishments. When it came to the fans, even if he was affected by their entitlement, Zayn referred to them as dedicated, instead of fanatic and obsessive, going against what was expected from fans and media alike. Whereas it was expected for him to show his distaste to the way people pursued him, he showed a certain sense of reverence, admitting the importance the fans have in his life.
“A big part of why I left the band is I made the realization that it wasn’t actually about [being the biggest] anymore,” he says, unconcerned. “It wasn’t about the amount of ticket sales that I get. It was more about the people that I reach.” Zayn [in his Fader cover story]
Definitely, the interesting part of the demonization and change of image in this social media risen musician is to continue to watch this situation unwinding. Nine months after his departure, Zayn is already establishing a different image for himself. Instead of being attached to the image of a mysterious and quiet boy, he’s determined to prove that he’s an artist, first and foremost, who takes his job very seriously, but that he’s also a 22 year old man who’s trying to enjoy life as much as he can. Even though he has expressed his intention not to be a role model, the importance of his representation is inevitable. To the fans with the same background and/or religion as Zayn, he’s an extremely important person.
But more than that, Zayn is his own person. He has the right to make mistakes and decisions for himself, without seeking for approval from his fans or the media. Both him and the other members of One Direction are filled with opportunities of what to do next. And to the fans, their job is to only show support and to root for promising futures.
