Was Harry Styles planning to quit One Direction and go solo before Zayn Malik ambushed the band with his decision to leave last month? If former NSYNC member Lance Bass is to be believed, the answer is yes. In a new interview with Meredith Viera, the boy bander revealed that the 1D hunk was all set to leave and had been working on tons of solo material.
It's not clear how Bass has the insider information (though he has plenty of insight into the world of boy bands), but he's claiming that Styles was all set to leave 1D before Malik made a flash exit.
He also notes that Malik was very, very smart and calculated to be the first member to leave One Direction as he gained a household name in the process.
"Harry Styles been ready to go solo for many months. In fact, he's been recording solo and was about to leave," Bass said. "The Zayn thing was just spur of the moment, but I think the best move he could have ever done because everyone knows Harry. Harry Styles was a household name, my grandmother knows Harry Styles. Zayn Malik, didn't really know the name until he was the first to leave the group. Kudos to him to being smart to leave."
Bass isn't the only one who sees a Style-less One Direction... Earlier this month, the band's This Is Us documentarian Morgan Spurlock also foresees him leaving the band. "I think they'll stay together for a little bit longer and I think at some point Harry will probably leave. He'll probably be next," Spurlock said.
Despite the rumors, Gossip Cop notes that One Direction's people said that the Styles solo material is really just framework for One Direction's planned fifth studio album.
