Why Going Solo Is The Best Thing For One Direction’s Harry Styles

All good things must come to an end someday, which means that One Direction is eventually breaking up. Sorry, I know, it’s a sore subject for me, too. They’ve consistently put out great pop albums year after year, so it’s not like they should break up, but being in a boy band with a bunch of other guys sharing your spotlight puts a damper on your own personal success, too. Why stick around and split the profits when you can be a bigger star all on your own?! For some pop acts like Emblem3, it doesn’t make a difference who leaves, because nobody is really going to care about whatever solo thing they do. But groups like The Wanted? Nathan Sykes is bound to get big with anything he does now that The Wanted is done.

With One Direction, all five of those guys are going to do big things too, but nobody will reach a star status as big as Harry Styles will, because let’s face it: Harry Styles is the lead of One Direction. Every pop group has one, whether people want to believe it or not. Nathan was the lead of The Wanted, James Bourne was the lead of Busted, and Normani Hamilton is totally the lead of Fifth Harmony. It’s not insulting the other members, but the leads just have something that their bandmates don’t. For Styles, he’s clearly the most popular, and arguably even has the best pipes.

So with the massive success that One Direction has achieved over the past few years, what evidence is there that says Styles may be better off on his own, or is even planning on going solo at all? In an interview at Digital Spy last month, frontman of rock band Kodaline mentioned that he had written a song with Styles that may be saved for a solo record. However, a statement was issued from a rep of the group that said any writing the boys are doing is strictly for 1D only. Hmm. Well, back in March, there were reports of Styles linking up with John Legend to write a song for The X Factor winners Alex & Sierra, and just last year, a song containing only Harry’s vocals leaked, but reps confirmed that it was just another One Direction demo.

Next page: Why all of Harry's writing is good for his future

Whether he’s writing for himself or not, he’s clearly making a name for himself outside of 1D’s music. On Ariana Grande’s upcoming record, My Everything, Styles has a co-writing credit on ‘Just a Little Bit of Your Heart,’ and it’s going to be produced by duo Max Martin and Shellback. It’s going to be the first taste we get on what a possible Harry song could sound like, despite the fact that it’s going to be sung by Grande. The most important part here is that her upcoming album is expected to be huge, and this is a big stage for Styles to showcase potential he has as an outside writer. The best case scenario that everyone in Styles’ camp is hoping for is probably Robbie Williams #2, who gained success in his group Take That before blowing up while solo, and it’s definitely a possibility for Harry.

Now, official Harry solo music most likely isn’t going to come anytime soon, and he’s not leaving One Direction behind for it. The group just recently signed an enormous record deal that’s got them locked into two more studio albums and a greatest hits release. That first of two albums is expected to be out by the end of the year and should feature more writing from the guys than ever before. Liam Payne recently took to Instagram to say that he’s been up “writing a dance banger,” while Niall Horan was writing songs with McFly back in March. With all of the writing Styles has been doing, it isn’t clear whether the songs for other artists are in addition to the ones he’s doing for the group -- but whatever he’s doing is going to undoubtedly help perfect his craft when One Direction is history.