One Direction to take an extended hiatus in March—reports

The boy band One Direction thanks fans in this post on its Instagram account. News reports say members of the group will go on a one-year break in March next year to do individual projects. INSTAGRAM SCREENGRAB

One Direction will go into four directions come March 2016, reports said on Monday.

E! News and People, in separate reports, said group members Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson all agreed to take a year-long break to pursue personal projects.

Citing sources, the reports said that the extended hiatus would not mean that the British boy band was splitting up.

“They are taking a hiatus so they can work on individual projects for a while but they are not splitting up. They will remain together and plan to work together in the future,” a source told E! News.

The news came days after the band released the new music video for “Drag Me Down,” the first music video made since Zayn Malik left the group last March.

Malik has signed a solo record deal for his solo career with RCA Music.

“I guess I never explained why I left , it was for this moment to be given the opportunity to show you who i really am! #realmusic #RCA !!” he posted on his Twitter page. AJH