When the One Direction Twitter account posted days in advance about the eight-year anniversary that was quickly approaching, I was extremely shocked. One Direction headquarters has basically had radio silence since the band entered into the hiatus. On some occasions, management will post something vague about a holiday or share something posted by one of the members, but an all-out reference to their eight years… and a whole Spotify playlist to commemorate it? Unheard of.
And that was only the beginning.
As fans started trending #8YearsOfOneDirection, they also started streaming the officially curated One Direction 8 Year Anniversary playlist on Spotify. That's when they discovered something… peculiar. When playing the music and viewing the "queue", a few unplayable tracks appeared. These were labeled "Lucky", "The Songs Mean More", and "Start of the Show" among other various titles with a similar premise. Even a track with the title of "Don't Forget Where You Belong" appeared, despite that being the name of an already released song. Some people also claimed to have seen songs such as "Another World" and "Na Na Na", which fans have already heard, but aren't necessarily available for streaming.
So, given those clear hints, conspiracy theories started flying. By the time July 23rd rolled around, the hashtag was trending number one worldwide and fans began waiting for each band member to notice. One by one each of the boys would comment, but those weren't the only accounts being active. One Direction's official Twitter was still tweeting. This time, every hour, on the hour, they tweeted a snippet of song lyrics, freaking fans out. The songs seemed randomly chosen and enticing.
Immediately, fans began speculating about what this could mean. Would an announcement be coming? If so, would this be the reunion we've been waiting for? Many fans began to wonder if the band account would end the night by tweeting the lyrics to the song "Infinity" and follow that with a link to a music video for the song.
One Direction had filmed the music video prior to going on their break but never released it. Footage had been leaked from the set of the music video and since then many fans have felt robbed. However, many fans were hoping for something a bit more than just a music video.
When people started reporting being able to see added tour dates in 2020 for One Direction on Ticketmaster, reunion shows began to seem a bit more plausible. While there were very little details on these events, about four seemed to be showing up for some users, which was more than enough information for fans to hold on to.
And while the number 8 turned sideways is an infinity symbol, One Direction did not release a music video. They did not make an announcement to reunite at midnight. Harry was even late to the tweet. Niall continued with his tour. Louis went on his way as a judge at the X-Factor auditions. Liam kept working on his promo for his upcoming album. Zayn continued work with Iskra Lawrence on his new music video (not that he would be coming back, anyway).
So, I guess we'll be waiting a bit longer to find out what exactly is up with those unplayable tracks. Plus, we won't be blessed with that music video. Worse of all, this hiatus is continuing. Despite the beauty that is the solo careers, I'm missing "the greatest team that the world has ever seen".
