“I don’t know if it’s a hiatus or a breakup, to be honest,” Cowell says in his new Billboard cover story, out Thursday. “In a weird way, I don’t want to know. I don’t think they’ve had enough time to experience what it’s like not being in the group to really answer that.”
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“Zayn is still signed to our company,” he said. “But the boys hadn’t bought into the fact that he was leaving, so out of respect for them, it wasn’t the right thing to put him on Syco. What’s good for Zayn is good for us, good for the show and good for the brand.”
As for the rest of the band’s solo plans, Cowell does not deny that Harry Styles is working on new material. “He’ll work out what kind of record he wants to make because he’s got great taste – which is always a help,” he said. “All the writers and producers want to work with him, understandably, but he probably won’t rush into it.”