Liam Payne doesn’t think Zayn Malik will be a part of a One Direction reunion because he’s never enjoyed the spotlight.
The former recently joked that his ex-bandmate, who left the group in March 2015, before the remaining members decided to go on an extended break, could be replaced by his ‘Midnight’ collaborator DJ Alesso when they get back together.
Speaking on Instagram Live with the latter, he quipped: "You can come in and fill in for Zayn and join the band."
However, now Liam has admitted it’s unlikely Zayn would rejoin himself, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan in the band because he’s never been comfortable on stage and would rather just release music.
Liam told Daily Star Online: "Some people are made for this thing but Zayn enjoys the side of the music where he just gets to make music.
"I don’t think he enjoys what comes with it. I think he has to be very careful where he treads.
"He likes to make songs and his songs do very well but at the same time he doesn’t really like to go out and perform the songs.
"He doesn’t really like going out and doing the press stuff that surrounds it in the crazy little world that we live in."
Liam had teased that the ‘History’ hitmakers are set to discuss their long-term plans via FaceTime amid talk they’re poised to reunite.
The chart-topping boyband are rumoured to be reuniting to mark their 10th anniversary in July, and Liam is keen to chat to his bandmates during the coronavirus lockdown.
He told Alesso: "I did speak to Niall again on FaceTime today, and he was outside on his balcony sunbathing and whatever. He’s in London as well.
"Most of us are in London. We’ve been trying to arrange the first group FaceTime at the moment."
The DJ then replied: "Oh, wow, the whole world is about to explode."
During their conversation, Liam also revealed he’d been sworn to secrecy about the band’s plans, having previously hinted at a comeback.
He said: "I can’t say too much. It was actually … Louis told me off for revealing a bit of our plans the other day. So you’re going to have the group telling me off on the group chat."
The ‘Stack It Up’ star previously admitted the band recently held talks about their future plans – although he didn’t reveal any specific details.
He said: "We’ve got a 10-year anniversary coming up so we’ve all been speaking together a lot over the last few weeks, which has been really nice.
"There’s a number of different things that we are all working on to try and make happen and people are forwarding emails around."
Liam Payne doesn’t think Zayn Malik will reunite with 1D
