A very important theory about the One Direction boys crawling back into the public eye.

Right now, every single member of the former boy band One Direction is circulating in the headlines. 

Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik took the world by storm after competing on X Factor in 2010. But after five years together, five albums and four world tours, they decided to follow their own solo projects. 

In 2015, One Direction formally went on hiatus – and now, eight years later, following a very strategic pause, they all seem to be clawing their way back into the public eye individually. 

Watch this clip of Rebel Wilson meeting One Direction in 2016. Post continues after video. 

It's been eight years since their split and each band member has gone on to pursue their own solo careers, although one has stood out from the rest as the clear major success story.

And that's Harry Styles. 

Every member of One Direction has had at least two songs chart, but Styles leads with the most chart-toppers (by a mile) with nine number-one singles to his name. He's an in-demand actor, too, after making his acting debut in the 2017 film Dunkirk, which he followed up with roles in major films including Eternals and Don't Worry Darling.

It's hard to imagine how he could find the time, but somehow, Styles also completed two world tours while he was at it. The singer is now about to wrap up his Love On Tour later this month before he takes a well-deserved break.

One Direction. Image: Getty.

We don't know exactly how long Styles is planning to step aside for, but he hinted it might be more than a hot minute at one of his recent shows.

"When I finish these shows, I’m going to go away for a little bit, but I want to tell you that I will miss you, and I have loved you all so so much," he said. "Thank you so much for making this the greatest experience of my life."

But based on rumours circulating on social media, it looks like Styles may just plan to zen out for the next five years – although where exactly these rumours came from is unknown.

@https.multi.x.fandom I'm gonna miss him so bad, but he deserves the break, I'll wait for you Harry <3 #harrystyles #fyp #break #harrystylesbreak #foryou ♬ original sound - Widm2023😍

And now, as Styles gets ready to hang up his sequined pants and tasselled vests, Malik, Payne, Tomlinson and Horan seem poised to step back into the spotlight... which brings us to our little theory (thanks for hanging in there with us, we made it!). 

Styles' break from the spotlight is the perfect strategic point for the rest of the former boy banders to shine their own little lights now they're no longer standing in Styles' shadow.

With Styles on the sidelines, they can bask in the undivided attention of those adoring 1D fans.

Harry Styles during his Love On Tour. Image: Instagram.

It's a clever move, waiting for one of the most popular artists in the world to wrap up his projects before you put yourself out there – especially when that artist happens to be your former bandmate.

And while we can't be certain this is why the boys have held back in recent years, there's a lot to suggest that four of the five have picked 2023 as 'their year'.

So far in 2023, we've seen more activity from the guys than we have in a while. There's been an apology video from Payne, a rare interview and new music drop date announcement from Malik, a world tour notice from Horan and a documentary release from Tomlinson... All as Styles begins to wind down his casual world domination.

Earlier this month, Payne addressed the criticism over a podcast interview with Logan Paul in 2022. (ICYMI, Payne spilled a bunch of tea on what life was like in One Direction.)

"A lot of what I said came from the wrong place. I was so angry at what was going on around me and instead of taking a look inwards, I decided to look outwards at everybody else and I took it out on everybody else, which is just wrong," Payne said in a video posted to his YouTube channel.

"[Because of] my own frustrations with my own career and where I kind of landed, I took shots at everybody else, which is wrong, so obviously I want to apologise for that in the first instance because that's definitely not me.

"The whole thing up to that point was just a scramble to stay relevant," he later added, before admitting the response to his viral interview was a "life-changing [moment] that saved my life in a way." He also said that he has "more of a grip on life and everything that was getting away from me, I just feel like I’ve got more of a handle on it."

Image: Getty.

Meanwhile, in a new interview with Alex Cooper on Call Her Daddy, Malik shared that spending five years with his bandmates created tension, as he gears up to release his first single in two years.

"There was obviously underlying issues within our friendships too. We'd been together every day for five years and we got sick of each other, if I'm being completely honest," he said. 

"We were close, we [had] done crazy things with each other that nobody else in the world will ever understand or have them experiences that we've shared together."

Earlier this year, in March, it was Tomlinson who shared his recollection of what it was like to be in One Direction, via a documentary – Louis Tomlinson: All of Those Voices.

While Malik claimed the band had been sick of each other prior to his leaving and suggested their time was coming to an end anyway, Tomlinson was shocked when One Direction decided to go on a hiatus.

"You started thinking, 'Well, maybe this isn't going to last forever,'" the singer said in the doco. "'Have we become the band that we didn't want to be?' 

"We started to feel a disconnect, and then all of a sudden now [we're] talking about maybe we'll go on a break for a couple of years.

"It hit me like a ton of bricks, I was not prepared for it," he said of the band's breakup. "Not at all."

Whether the timing is coincidental or this is one very clever strategic break back into the spotlight remains to be seen, but while some fans say a five-year-long break for Styles is unlikely, there's no doubt Horan, Tomlinson, Malik and Payne can reap the benefits of not having to compete with his formidable success.

Either way, smart move boys.

Feature Image: Getty/Mamamia.