One Direction is celebrating the release of its new album FOUR, but the band is doing it without one of its key members. This morning (Nov. 17), 1D appeared at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, though Zayn Malik was absent. Amidst rumors about drug abuse problems and a serious illness, Malik's fellow bandmates dismissed all the negative rumors before performing a four song mini-concert on The Today Show.
Malik's absence, which began the massive Twitter trending topic "#WheresZayn," was just the result of a little stomach bug that kept the singer in England and nothing more sinister. "He's got a tummy bug so he's not very well," Liam Payne explained. "We only found out this morning so we're really sad, he is as well, that he can't be here for our album release. It's still going to be a great day, I'm sure."
The band then launched into a four song concert, with the boys changing vocal duties to cover Malik's solo portions. For the lead FOUR single "Steal My Girl," Payne tackled the first verse and the boys all joined together for the chorus, which only sounded slightly less bombastic than usual in Malik's absence.
"Steal My Girl" wasn't the lone showing from FOUR. Following performances of their former massive hits "Best Song Ever," "Story of My Life" and "Little Things," One Direction gave the U.S. television debut of the latest FOUR single "Night Changes" with a marked poignancy.
One Direction's new album FOUR is out now. It's the immediate follow-up to the band's 2013 album Midnight Memories.
