All it took for Zayn Malik to come out of retirement and acknowledge the band that made him famous was one car crash podcast interview by former bandmate Liam Payne.

During the interview with Logan Paul, Payne said there were “many reasons” why he disliked Malik, who left the band in 2015 after struggling for some time. He later issued a loaded apology on Twitter, which didn’t stop the other band members from unfollowing him.

Fans were disappointed back in 2020 when Malik failed to acknowledge One Direction’s 10-year anniversary, and it appeared he was completely done with the band he had left in 2015.

But yesterday, Malik posted an eight-second clip to Instagram, singing the infamous high note in One Direction’s ‘You & I’.

Fans have responded with a mixture of shock and delight.

“Zayn Malik randomly just posting a short clip of him hitting the high note in you & i over 7 years after he left one direction??” posted one fan. “Yes I’m going to be thinking about it for a while.”

“‘zayn malik broke twitter’ yea well he broke me too,” posted another.

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Some of the other responses:

https://twitter.com/confrmationnn/status/1535445417848033280?s=20

https://twitter.com/homewithcurly/status/1535468576228151297?s=20

The video has renewed hopes of a possible One Direction reunion, after Payne’s interview all but squashed them.

Reunion rumours have been swirling for years, and UK betting agency Ladbrokes even had them on a 4/5 chance of reuniting before the end of 2022. When Harry Styles announced his London show at the O2 Brixton Academy, released the trailer for his new film, Don’t Worry Darling, and dropped his new album Harry’s House in the space of a few weeks, those odds dipped to 5/1.

Back in 2020 – the band’s 10th anniversary year – the agency had them at 1/4 odds of reuniting before year’s end.

Ladbrokes’ Alex Apati recently said: “Directioners should look away now; quite simply, Harry Styles’ rapidly growing solo career continues to dampen chances of a 1D comeback, and while optimistic fans were hoping for a 2022 reunion – the latest odds suggest we may have to wait another two or three years.”

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