Social media was sent into a frenzy when One Direction member, Liam Payne, announced on July 21 that he signed a solo deal with Capitol Records. The 22-year-old singer/songwriter, along with his band mates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan, began their band hiatus at the beginning of 2016.

News that Payne would be pursuing his own music career was not a true shock to anyone who followed the band. Collectively, he has co-written 33 of the tracks across One Direction’s five albums, as well as collaborated with artists such as Wiz Khalifa, Juicy J and Pharrell on separate projects. He has also experimented with sound by creating remixes for popular songs by the boy band, such as “Steal My Girl” and “Drag Me Down.” Therefore, it does not come as a surprise for many fans that he followed the path to a solo career in the music industry that he has given every indication of being interested in pursuing.

For fans who are left wondering what Payne’s solo deal means both for them and for the future of the band, it is tough to say, so people should stop speculating. Radio hosts and television personalities claim to have seen the writing on the wall for months but fail to realize that before the hiatus began, the One Direction guys discussed keeping their options open to trying new projects.

“We all do the songwriting thing obviously and that’s going to be a thing that keeps us doing the stuff that we love [during the hiatus] as well,” said Payne during a group interview on "Alan Carr: Chatty Man" in 2015. “It’s just the stage that we have to miss.”

Payne is not the only one looking to pursue new projects during the hiatus. According to Billboard, Styles signed a recording contract with Columbia Records, the same label behind One Direction, as a solo artist on June 23. He also began filming for his acting debut in Christopher Nolan’s film, “Dunkirk,” which is set in World War II during the Dunkirk evacuation.

Meanwhile, Horan continues to pursue his philanthropic endeavors by using his love for sports. It was announced in April that he would join the Soccer Aid 2016 star line-up fundraiser for UNICEF. He was an assistant manager and player for the Rest of the World team and faced off against Tomlinson, who played for the England team.

Therefore, since all of the band members are exploring life outside of what was their life for five years, there should not be cause for any concern.

“What’s so great about this time is I think we’re gonna find it nice to have the time to be able to reflect and think about everything that we’ve done, and I think it’s important that the fans do that as well because we’ve done this together and it’s pretty incredible,” said Tomlinson during the "Chatty Man" interview.

“You know, when you think about it, a lot of other bands, especially touring bands, will spend maybe two years making the album, then two years of touring, then maybe a two year break,” he reiterated during another 2015 interview. “Actually, what we’re doing isn’t that weird. What’s more weird is the fact that we’ve been lucky enough to do five albums in five years with so many tours in such a short space of time, which is why I think it is alarming to people. But as far as we’re concerned, there’s nothing to worry about. We pledge that we’re coming back, which we are.”