Markus Feehily: ‘One Direction Fans Should Be Happy They’re Taking A Break’ - EXCLUSIVE

When it was announced earlier this year that One Direction were taking a well-earned break after five years of being the biggest boyband on the planet, it didn’t take long for the ‘split’ rumours to start.

Ignoring the fact that 1D have been working their little bums off solidly for half a decade, many decided that them taking 2016 off spelled the end for the band that we know, love, and obsess over.

However, one very reasonable voice of wisdom in the form of Markus Feehily has now come forward to tell everybody to chill the ‘eck out because the boys’ break is definitely for the best.

In case you didn’t know, Markus was a member of hugely successful boyband, Westlife, and after working hard for eleven years - losing a member along the way - the band demanded a break against the advice of their management.

Oh, who just so happen to be the exact same management that One Direction have.

We mean, the similarities are uncanny.

Despite their management’s beliefs, taking 2009 off was far from the end of Westlife, with the boys returning a year later and sticking around for four more after that, which Markus tells us is a lot longer than they would have lasted without the break.

Speaking exclusively to Yahoo Celeb UK as he celebrates the release of his debut solo album ‘Fire’, the Irish singer explained: “Westlife took a break and everyone, mostly the record company and everybody around Simon [Cowell], said ‘If you do this you know your fans won’t be there when you come back, you have to be careful’.

“We had been together for eleven years and we thought if they are that fickle then so be it, we need this break and if we don’t have it we are going to implode.

“We believed in our fans, we had given them ten tours and ten albums and we knew our fans better than any record company, so we had a lot of hope and faith that our fans will be there when we came back and they were.

“That break bought us another four or five years in Westlife so it was the best thing we could have done, because if we didn’t take that break in 2009 we would have only lasted about another year and it bought us another four.

One Direction with Westlife

“People say you make hay when the sun shines but that is a dangerous philosophy, sometimes you need to get a rest and remember why you enjoy doing it and get your energy back so you can’t wait to go to the gigs.

“Not be like ‘Oh God, another gig’ - you need to get some rest and get some energy back otherwise you burn out.

“So I actually think One Direction fans should be happy that they are taking a break because it’s probably going to buy them more years in the business. If they are crying out saying they need a break then they need a break - otherwise it will end a lot sooner.

“We worked with the exact same record company and I can imagine they probably want One Direction to keep going and going until they drop, but I think it’s definitely better they do things their way because the people in the band are the only ones who know when enough is enough.”

PREACH IT, MARKUS, PREACH IT!

Is it too much to get those quotes printed and put into a fancy frame? Because we are bloomin’ tempted.

Markus Feehily’s debut solo album ‘Fire’ is out now!

[ Markus Feehily: ‘I’ve Gone To The Dark Side After Westlife - EXCLUSIVE’ ]