Though the departure of Zayn Malik has broken the hearts of millions of their fans around the world and dominated the headlines, One Direction are seemingly already preparing for life as a four-piece with the suggestion that they’re already planning work on their next album.

Group member Niall Horan tweeted to his 21.9 million followers on Sunday (March 29th) that 1D are heading into sessions in the near future. He wrote: “Had a sit down last night with the label, started organising our writing sessions for the next album! F**kkk yeaaaahhhh! Can't wait!”

One Direction
One Direction are getting ready to make their first album without Zayn Malik (2nd L)

It will be the first One Direction album without Malik, who quit the group in controversial circumstances last week while they were in the middle of their On The Road Again world tour. He cited stress and revealed his desire to live like a normal person again for a while, out of the spotlight.

More: Is Zayn Malik’s solo career going to be launched on Simon Cowell’s Syco label?

In an interview with The Sun, Zayn gave some more details about his decision to leave. “I did try to do something that I wasn't happy doing for a while, for the sake of maybe other's people's happiness,” he explained. “And that was mainly the fans. I only ever tried to do it for the fans. I'm only upset [because] I feel like I may have let them down in some sort of way.”

He also confirmed that he was working on solo material with British producer Naughty Boy. However, the song ‘I Won’t Mind’, the collaboration between the two that emerged on SoundCloud on Tuesday, was later revealed to not be the fruits of a post-1D collaboration. Instead, a source revealed to MailOnline that it was recorded as a contender for inclusion on the group’s last album Four.

More: Zayn Malik explains One Direction departure and future plans