What would the world be like if One Direction became just five singular entities? Just five ridiculously good-looking twenty-somethings roaming the Earth; searching for hit records and colourful onesies.
Well luckily, it doesn’t look like that’s going to be happening anytime soon – well that’s what Zayn Malik's hoping anyway.
Lovely Zayn admitted that he likes knowing he has the rest of the 1D fellas – Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payn and Niall Horan – around him when he performs.
"If I did this by myself it would be a lot more difficult," Zayn said in a clip from One Direction's Who We Are audiobook.
"Simply because having four other people that do exactly the same thing as you, go through exactly the same experiences, have the same life experiences to a certain extent because you've lived the same life for the last three or four years is a really useful thing.
"It is cool to have that and it would be more difficult to be a solo artist I think. Sometimes I do look at solo artists and I feel a bit sorry for them because they don't have that, whereas we have a proper camaraderie."
One Direction's new book Who We Are will be released on 25 September.
All the things One Direction have had thrown them
All the things One Direction have had thrown at them. Ouchie...
1 of 6A shoe
Harry Styles got hit right in the beanbag at a gig in Glasgow last year - and there's even a video clip of it happening. A fan threw her shoe at the stage and Hazza picked it up to admire it. Unhappily, though, its twin came whistling through the air and struck him in the gonads. You can see Harry drop to the floor in absolute shock while his bandmates try to keep the show going. HILARIOUS.
2 of 6A glo-stick
It's a wonder the 1D lads don't have permanently neon-splashed ankles with their audience members' predilection for throwing glo-sticks up on stage.
3 of 6Harry's fist
Yeah. Harry decided to give Liam Payne a friendly pat on the old scrote during a demonstration of his handstand skills. Mean Harry. Too mean.
4 of 6Liam's microphone
Don't worry - Liam got his own back at a different gig by thumping Hazza between the legs with his mic. Revenge: a dish best served both cold and very, very publicly.
5 of 6Underpants
Maaaan - boybands get all the best freebies. We imagine 1D will NEVER experience the panic of laundry day where every single item of underwear is either buried deep in the washing basket or slowly rotating round and round in the machine, tantalisingly close yet with a 90-minute cycle still to go before you can be reunited with them. Just look at how many pairs of pants the boys get chucked at them on stage. So jel.
6 of 6Tampons
You know how it is. You're at the best gig of your life, seeing the one band you've sworn everlasting love to just rocking out on stage. You need to remember this night for the rest of your time on this green Earth, so you root through your bag for something, anything, that might touch Harry's face. You pull out a banana. Nah - too mushy. Your phone? But then how will you let all your Twitter followers know what you're up to… Aha! Tampons! Of course - so sweetly wrapped, so small, yet big enough to make an impact.