Yes, I still believe it’s a stunt and that Zayn is coming back. I only believe these things more with every passing event and day.
With that out of the way, I promise everyone, if I for some reason stop thinking it’s a stunt or stop thinking Zayn will return, I will post about it immediately. You don’t have to keep asking.
Okay, so let’s try to put together a rough timeline of things since June started:
June 1st-
#WelcomeBackto1DZayn trends on Twitter. The source is revealed to be a Brazilian fan deliberately trolling the fandom. The trend gets quite a bit of press which is strange since publications largely refrain from reporting on Twitter trends.
This is the first day we get tweets from the crew and musical band implying rehearsing for the tour is going on.
June 2nd-
The Sun (Dan Wootton) publishes an exclusive that Niall and Melissa are officially broken up. (aka the fauxmance is over)
June 3rd-
Louis appears in LA despite the first European show being in only a few days. This gets a decent amount of press.
Niall has press with 5 girls in one day (Melissa, Jade, Ariana, Ellie, Matilde Mourinho)
June 4th-
The Sun (Dan Wootton) publishes an exclusive that 1D will take a hiatus after the 5th album and that Harry may not want to return. The Daily Mail almost immediately refutes the claim with a statement from an official rep.
Lauren Richards (Thailand girl) gives an interview basically denying any and all romantic involvement between her and Zayn.
June 5th-
Niall makes some suspiciously overexaggerated tweets bemoaning the loss of Mark on the European leg of the tour and assures everyone Mark will be back for the US leg.
During the first Cardiff show, Liam appears on stage wearing a ring on his right ring finger which is speculated to be a symbol of his and Zayn’s committed relationship. Liam almost never wears rings of any type.
June 6th-
During the Summertime Ball, Liam appears without the ring. Since this event was very visible to the public and exposed Liam to a lot of reporters, it’s speculated that Liam didn’t want the ring to be twisted and reported as something related to Sophia and so didn’t wear it.
Zayn doesn’t appear at the Summertime Ball at all. However, there is a picture of him with dyed green hair released from Perrie’s Instagram that same day. This is reported on by quite a few outlets despite the fact that it shouldn’t be newsworthy. It’s also the first time Zayn has been spotted in several weeks.
The night of the Summertime Ball, Liam appears at the second Cardiff concert wearing the ring again.
June 7th-
Niall gets “hacked” by someone who apparently cares very much about Brangelina news as reported by the Daily Mail.
June 8th-
Low quality pics of Liam and Sophia shopping near his house surface. Seeing as no pictures of Liam shopping there have ever surfaced before and that Eleanor and Louis stunted by shopping, this has plenty of the signs of stunting.
More pictures of Zayn with green hair surface from other sources and Zayn’s Twitter profile pic is changed to a fanart of him with green hair.
June 9th-
Fan pics of Zayn out and about with a beanie covering his hair surface.
Despite Niall lamenting the lack of Mark earlier, Mark tweets about a training session with Harry that day.
June 10th-
Pictures of Louis out at a club the night before surface. It’s speculated that since the pictures weren’t found right away, the fact that Louis was still wearing the club wrist band on stage in Vienna was deliberate to draw attention to his clubbing.
Zayn tweets for the first time in a while. “Sunny days …” and “White hair” along with a picture. Then “Had it purple yesterday ha trying em all out ha ;P” The press, including Billboard, once again comment on his hair dying habits.
Before the Vienna show, the official 1D Instagram posts a very sketchy picture of Liam captioned “Liam’s ready to go onstage in Vienna”. In the picture Liam is holding up his right hand in a thumbs up, clearly showing he has no ring on. This is reminiscent of how Perrie has been drawing attention to her ring or lack thereof. Liam’s mouth is smiling, but the rest of him is noticeably tired and sad. It’s speculated that 1DHQ forced Liam to take it off and take the picture to show he wasn’t wearing it.
Liam is even more visibly sad than usually during the concert and the fandom starts talking about it.
June 11th-
Little Mix has an interview in Leeds as part of their radio tour for Black Magic and a single pap picture of Zayn in Leeds surfaces.
Pap pictures of Louis at the Sony office in the UK in very casual clothes and with a glum expression surface.
More pictures of Louis partying with his friends surface.
Niall posts a #wherewegoingtodaymark Instagram, further throwing suspicion on his odd tweets about Mark being absent until the US leg of the tour.
Zayn tweets about the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack.
#LiamDay trends on Twitter after Liam’s visible sadness at the Vienna show. Several publications report on Liam being sad about Zayn’s absence. Yet again, reporting on a Twitter trend.
June 12th-
Pictures of Harry in New York City surface. He apparently flew there directly after the show on the 10th.
Harry’s mom is forced to tweet in defense of the boy’s work ethic after a fan keeps sending her tweets berating the lack of new songs in the set list and the strange jetting to and from the US.
June 13th-
Pictures of Louis partying continue to surface from the same trips.
Liam tweets about Jurassic World which features Chris Pratt who also happens to play the lead in Guardians of the Galaxy.
18 and No Control are added to the set list for the first time at the Brussels show.
June 14th-
The Sun (Dan Wootton) publishes an exclusive that Harry is getting into a relationship with another model, Sara Sampaio, that he was pictured with in New York.
Pictures of Louis out partying the night before surface.
More pictures of Zayn out and about in his beanie surface. A picture of Zayn holding hands with Perrie surfaces. Although there is a picture of Perrie and a picture of Zayn and her hand, there is strangely no picture with them in the same frame.
Louis tweets about performing No Control for the first time which is in line with his prominence in the Project No Control narrative arc.
#zayniscomingback trends on Twitter after it’s discovered that the announcement of him quitting on Facebook has been hidden on the timeline.
Several publications report on how tickets for the 1D tour aren’t selling well.
June 15th-
Press on the #zayniscomingback trend starts mildly and then progressively becomes more rigorous in denying a comeback. And again, reporting on a Twitter trend. A producer from Sony, Mike Navarra, denies Zayn’s return and BG posts a blind that’s quite emphatic against it. Speculation is that the surprise factor of Zayn returning is being played up, thus, the denials.
A cover collaboration by Zayn and a UK rapper, Mic Righteous, is posted on SoundCloud. It’s removed within 3 or 4 hours, but had already gained a lot of attention. Many of the big publications, including Billboard, reported on the release in a positive fashion. The song is recognized to be the same one Zayn was singing in the background of a studio clip back in December (?)
Naughty Boy tweets that the track was removed because it was stolen and Mic Righteous responds that it wasn’t stolen. He claims that he posted it because Zayn wanted it posted but Zayn’s label isn’t allowing him to release music for 2 years.
Throughout all this:
1) Niall is linked to Ariana Grande repeatedly either directly or through their mutual association with Alfredo Flores.
2) Perrie continues to do Zerrie stunts including posting the green hair pic, posting an Instagram claiming her “mother-in-law” gave her candy, giving a comment in an interview about Zayn dying his hair orange, calling herself “Perrie Malik”, having a sleepover (with pics) with the Little Mix girls inside the mansion Zayn is known to own, claiming during an interview that she’s sick of people asking about their relationship and wedding date, etc.
The apparent narratives:
1) Zayn- is keeping quiet (it’s always the people around him who are doing and saying things), is enjoying his new freedom by making lots of image changes
2) Louis- is partying a lot and worrying fans and management
3) Harry- is never where the rest of the band is when not at shows, is checked out and thinking about going solo
4) Liam- is sad over Zayn being gone
5) Niall- is burying his feelings by hanging out with friends, especially Ariana Grande and the Alfredo Flores crew
6) 1D- is not doing so hot, the members are all over the place and tickets aren’t selling
7) Press- Zayn is not coming back, yet he also won’t be going solo for at least 2 years. They’re reporting on him as much as possible
over every little thing (despite him having no career currently), are continuing to unnecessarily link him to 1D at every chance, and have made a habit of reporting on Twitter trends, which has not been common in the past.
I’d like to add a thank you to paynoisbatman for having an awesome tagging system that helped me put this together.