Melissa Steel wants to sing at Zayn Malik and Perrie Edwards wedding

Kisses For Breakfast singer Melissa Steel says she’d love to be a wedding singer for her old school mate Zayn Malik.

The 20-year-old has been friends with the 1D hunk for years and is willing to offer her services for his big day with Perrie Edwards.

‘I haven’t spoken to him about the wedding, but hopefully I can be singing there,’ the Bradford lass laughed.

‘We were at school together and in the same year and had classes together. He’s always been supportive of me and we’ve been supportive of each other. I am proud of him,’ she gushed.

Revealing Malik, 21, was a squeaky clean student, Steel admits she was a much more disruptive pupil in comparison.

‘I wouldn’t say I was a rebel, but if I had an argument with a teacher, the argument would last for the whole lesson,’ she said.

With her debut single out this week, the singer says she would love to get the 1D star involved as a guest vocalist for one of her album tracks.

‘We always used to talk about doing a YouTube video together but we never got round to it because obviously the One Direction thing took off. His voice is so RnB so if we did a song it would be amazing. I’d love to make that happen,’ she said.

James Cordon begs Harry Styles to let him write for 1D

James Corden says he is constantly begging One Direction to let him write them a hit after he penned a tune in his new film.

The jolly 35-year-old comedian stars alongside Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo in music rom-com Begin Again and now he wants to use his new skills to help his mate Harry Styles.

‘I’d love to write with One Direction but I doubt they would let me. I’m constantly talking to Harry about letting me do anything,’ he revealed at the low key UK premiere at London’s Ham Yard hotel on Wednesday.

Corden also revealed he is working on a TV project with HBO – which is notorious for sex and violence filled shows like Game of Thrones and Sex & The City – however he’s not sure how extreme his own efforts will be.

‘Can I write a good sex scene? I’ve not given it a huge amount of thought!’ he laughed.

[Originally published Metro, Guilty Pleasures, Friday 4 July 2014]

5 Seconds of Summer sent male strippers by fans

Obsessive fans of pop rockers 5 Seconds Of Summer once sent a group of male strippers to the band’s shared house.

The Don’t Stop singers were stunned when uniformed officers turned up on their doorstep – only for them to be erotic performers.

‘Some people sent strippers to our house, which was interesting because they were male strippers. It was a bit of a joke, but it was funny,’ 18-year-old Calum Hood of the band explained in an exclusive chat.

‘I’m not sure who sent them exactly, but I will try to get them to send female ones next time.

‘They were dressed as policemen but we didn’t answer the door because we were scared. They could actually have been the real police,’ he laughs, saying his bandmates can be rowdy when they get together.

Although Hood said he and his Aussie bandmates enjoy their shared party pad, the Kerrang! award winners prefer to chill out when they take a break from supporting One Direction on tour.

‘We have fun when we live together – it’s kind of hard not to. We haven’t had the neighbours complaining yet but they probably will in the near future.

‘When we have free time we would rather be sleeping, to be fair.’

As for painting the town red with thier 1D tour mates, Hood added: ‘The thing is we are very busy at the moment and it’s very hard to find time in our schedules to party together.'

With 1D recently causing a storm when a video emerged appearing to show band members smoking drugs, Hood said 5SOS were much more clean living.

‘Did they offer us marijuana or drugs? No! Definitely not,’ he said.

[Originally published Metro, Guilty Pleasures, Monday 16 June 2014]

Rebecca Ferguson on love after Zayn Malik and X Factor 2014

Having learnt from her previous relationship with One Direction star Zayn Malik, Rebecca Ferguson has said  she’s keeping her new romance out of the limelight.

The former X Factor contestant was a single mother-of-two by the age of 21, endured a whirlwind romance with One Direction’s Zayn Malik and has now shacked up with an old mate in a long distance relationship.

‘I’ve got a boyfriend. I’m seeing him tonight and I haven’t seen him for a few weeks. It is hard because we’re always away,’ the I Hope singer told Guilty Pleasures at an exclusive playback of her new album, Freedom.

‘But I think you make it work if you love each other,’ she continued, explaining she has found comfort in an old friend and prefers to let love blossom away from the limelight.

‘We’ve been friends for years, which makes it easier. I’ve known him since I was about 22. The only person who was in the public eye was Zayn. And then the last three years I’ve not dated anyone. Apart from one idiot, who I won’t name, who then proceeded to tell everyone “she’s my girlfriend”. But other than that it was people I knew and who had been friends,’ she said.

‘Not that I’ve been with loads, right!’ she laughed.

With her second album due to be released on November 29, the singer will also be making a return to the X Factor stage to sing live in December and is backing Tamera Foster to win this years’ competition.

‘I think with the right guidance she could be a star,’ she said, adding she hopes the teen singer will be allowed to show more of her personality as the show enters its final weeks.

‘I feel like it would be nice to see more of who she is. You just have to be really honest. She’ll be able to relax with people with time and age. She’s just 16.’

Ferguson also thinks the bad reputation Tamera has weathered during the course of the competition is unfair.

‘I was probably a rebel at 16. She looks older so she gets judged. She looks like a woman you’d see in clubs,’ she said.

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures Thursday 21 November 2013]

One Direction: Our tour bus stinks!

If you’ve ever wanted to know exactly what a One Direction star smells like it’s a mix between crisps and damp grass.

Liam, Louis and Zayn have revealed the smells that permeate their tour bus.

‘It sometimes smells of crisps,’ Liam said.

‘And it might smell damp because we always play football,’ added Louis – who was recently signed to Doncaster Rovers.

‘It’s the dew from the grass. It’s got a musky smell,’ he added.

While the band agreed there is a definite ‘man’ scent to the bus in general, Irish band member Niall Horan, 19, added to the conversation by lovingly telling Louis: ‘You smell!’

The band might want to spritz up their rolling quarters by spraying a bit of their debut fragrance, Our Moment, around the bus which finally hits stores this week.

‘There was a fan on Twitter who tweeted about it and started a petition for us to make one, and we thought why not,’ Liam said, revealing the origins of the fragrance.

With its pleasant tones of grapefruit and jasmine (among others), the bottled fragrance has much more of an appeal than the smell of the tour bus – although the boys said a lot of sweat went into creating their signature scent.

‘We’ve never had so many meetings, not even about the album. Not even about anything - to do this it takes so much work,’ Liam said about the creation process.

‘We were heavily involved. You wouldn’t believe,’ Louis added.

Meanwhile 19-year-old Harry Styles added: ‘It’s been a long and exciting process and we’re really proud to have made a One Direction fragrance.’

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures 27 August 2013]

One Direction: Acting is not for us

After making their movie debut, One Direction are split over a future in Hollywood.

Their debut film, This Is Us, hits screens at the end of the month with the fab five’s every move being documented by controversial film maker Morgan Spurlock, but any fans concerned they might not see the real band on the big screen can be rest assured by Zayn.

‘We’re not acting in this film, it’s us. We’re just being ourselves,’ he said.

With Liam saying he would rule out a career as an actor saying ‘I’d be too nervous’ (despite his fair attempt in the Best Song Ever video), fellow singers Louis and Zayn say they might be up for it.

‘It’s something that intrigues me,’ said Louis.

While Zayn said: ‘it’s something I’m interested in but I wouldn’t see that as a direct relation between the movie we’re doing and acting.’

As the documentary follows the bands life on the road it also gives the boys a chance to see what all the fuss is about their stage shows.

‘It’s nice in a way it’s the thing of watching ourselves and we never get to watch our own shows,’ said Louis, adding: ‘so it’s good to see that.’

And while Zayn says he didn’t mind having the cameras following him around for months during the making of the movie, a line had to be drawn somewhere.

‘They’re filming us in our dressing rooms, then going from the dressing room to the stage. But they don’t follow us into the toilet or anything like that.’

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures 27 August 2013]

Liam Payne: An obsessive fan tried to rip off my ear

One Direction saying getting stuck in amongst a throng of hysterical ‘Directioners’ can get a little, er, eerie.  

‘One girl tried to pull my ear off in a shopping centre in Amsterdam,’ said Liam Payne, who recalled the alarming incident while in Europe with the Take Me Home world tour.

‘Sometimes you’re just going through a crowd and they grab what they can. One girl got my ear and just went for it,’ he continued.

‘I was like “That’s mine! I’ll be keeping it”,’ he added, although understands why fans scramble to get close.

‘European fans don’t get to see us often and there’s a lot of places we’ve never been to and there will be places where there are people who have waited 3 years to see us,’ he said.

Having already endured months of live shows and hysterical fans in the UK, Europe and USA, 1D will next be hitting up Australasia before their current world tour ends at the end of October.

Preparing to get back on the road again after a brief stop back in London for the premiere of their This Is Us documentary, Liam is ready for what the fans down under might throw at him.

‘It gets frantic. But it is fun though,’ he said.

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures 27 August 2013]

Louis Tomlinson: I let my girlfriend Eleanor Calder hear our grungier new tracks first

Louis Tomlinson says his most important critic is his girlfriend Eleanor Calder.

After the group took turns in writing duties for their new album, loved-up Louis made sure his 21-year-old girlfriend was the first to doll out the feedback.

‘I’m always showing Eleanor our new songs and I’m always proud of saying that – “we wrote this”,’ he said.

With the first single from their third album riding high in the charts around the world, the 1D boys said fans should prepare themselves for a grungier sound for their next studio offering due later this autumn.

‘It is a bit risky. It’s an implied risk. We’ve thought about it,’ Liam says of the new direction the band’s sound is travelling in.

With Best Song Ever drawing comparisons to iconic British rock band The Who’s Baba O’Riley it would seem more homages to classic rock acts might be in the works.

‘It is old school, actually, and I like that. It’s grungier. Not like Nirvanna. More like a 60s kind of sound,’ Liam added.

Fellow bandmate Zayn also revealed he has enjoyed shaking off the more commercial sound of their music to date.

‘I think we’ve kind of taken away the glitter of our music,’ he said, adding: ‘It’s got that groovy kind of feel to it. And it’s not as poppy.’

Liam agreed, saying he’s enjoying the fact the band are more hands on with the music this time round.

‘We’re so involved. We’ve all done writing. It’s our take on things and we’re old enough to do what we want now,’ he said.

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures 27 August 2013]

Zayn Malik: Perrie and I keep our love life alive via Skype

Keeping a relationship alive is tricky business when you’re one fifth of the biggest boyband of all time. Zayn Malik thanks technology for keeping things steamy with his Little Mix fiancé Perrie Edwards.

The Little Things singer has settled for Skype dates with 20-year-old Perrie when they are driven apart by their hectic work schedules.

‘I think she’s coming back as I leave,’ the 20-year-old said as his group prepare to continue their Take Me Home tour, while Little Mix are out performing in the States.

‘We miss each other,’ admitted the pining star.

‘We’ve got Skype as well. That helps,’ he said – to the amusement of band mates Louis Tomlinson, 21 and Liam Payne, 19.

‘Alright!’ Louis said with a stifled laugh after Zayn hinted his Skype activity may keep his love-life with Perrie spicy.

Meanwhile Liam added: ‘I don’t wanna know what you’re doing in your personal time!’

Zayn and Perrie met after both finding fame on The X Factor and began dating after meeting back stage on the ITV talent show in 2011.

And while the lovers are now looking to make their love permanent by tying the knot, Zayn has already made a permanent declaration of his affections in June this year when he had a cartoon image of his future wife tattooed onto his arm.

The Bradford lad has also explained he loves to use his down time between 1D gigs to add to his body art – but refused to say if he would get more in honour of Perrie.

‘Our manager is going to draw a graph comparing the correlation of time off with getting more tattoos,’ he said. ‘It will go up.’

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures 27 August 2013]