Liam Payne: Zayn's exit made us angry

One Direction were initially angry when Zayn Malik left the band.

The singer departed the British boy band in March, confirming his decision after he'd been signed off their On the Road Again Tour with stress. He later explained the group didn't "feel real" to him anymore, which is something his bandmate Liam Payne believes was obvious to everyone.

"At first we were a little bit angry, we were surprised. I think we all knew the general vibe that Zayn was feeling. You could sort of tell. And from the outside people could tell," he told talk show host James Corden. "There's certain parts of this job Zayn loved and there's certain parts that he didn't. And if you don't like your job you've gotta follow your heart sometimes and go where you need to go… we were angry at first and then it was just more disappointed. We wish him the best of luck with whatever he gets up to. There's no hard feelings."

Things haven't always been so peachy between Zayn and members of the group though. Louis Tomlinson recently became embroiled in a Twitter spat with Zayn and producer Naughty Boy, who Zayn has been working with since leaving One Direction. Louis poked fun at a picture Naughty Boy posted online, prompting Zayn to publicly take him to task for making "b***hy" comments about him.

"There's a bit back and forth. We're on good terms with him," Louis said when asked about the incident. "I've never been very good at biting my tongue, maybe I get it off my mum. It's just one of those things. Twitter is great for connecting with the fans but also, if you feel like saying something you probably shouldn't, it's also great for that. Or bad, in this case. Yeah, it's all resolved. It's all good in the hood."

The group also comprises of Harry Styles, who revealed that they never considered finding a replacement for Zayn. The fourth band member Niall Horan added it had also not occurred to them to call it a day.

"No not at all, the four of us love every part of it," he explained. "The shows have been great and the tour - the fans deserve it, they've been absolutely fantastic to us. We enjoy every aspect of it. The shows have been great, we're in the studio at the minute. So we're looking forward to bringing out a new record, going on more tours and stuff. We're really enjoying it."