One Direction - Dare to Dream - Life as One Direction

MOVING ON UP

I can remember so much about my X Factor audition and Bootcamp, but at the same time it all seems like such a blur. The best moment for me out of the whole thing was when we were told we were going to be put in a band together. I’d spoken to Louis, Zayn and Niall at Bootcamp and I remember thinking, ‘This is going to be a lot of fun,’ but I never for a moment thought that things would end up like this.

After the show everyone ended up coming to stay at my stepdad’s house in Cheshire, and for the first few days or so we just bonded with each other. It was a new experience for us all because it was like living in a student flat. My mum and Robin completely left us to our own devices. We all put in some money and my mum put a load of food in the fridge and we were left to get on with it. I cooked dinner for us one night – chicken breasts, chips and peas – and we all sat around the table in the bungalow talking rubbish. Other than that I think we ate Super Noodles most days, and we’d go out into the garden and play football for ages. We’d do ten minutes of singing practice, then play football for three hours, have a swim, drive to KFC … We were just messing around, but it was a really good way of getting to know each other’s personalities. We were learning little bits about each other by having silly banter.

I got on with Louis from the word go. We’re very similar and I like the fact that he has this ability to be nice to everyone while living totally for the moment. It puts a smile on your face when you see someone like that. I feel I can tell him anything, and I felt like that straight away. He can be really funny one minute, but if someone has a problem he can go into serious mode straight away and he gives really good advice.

Spain was so, so weird because we were still getting to know each other and then all of a sudden we were getting on a plane together for what felt like a holiday. We were still finding out so much about each other – in fact, we still are – so it was another really good time. I think we suddenly felt really grown up because we were in this big competition and, even though the X Factor staff were there, we were looking after ourselves to a certain extent.

Getting told we were through to the live finals was another moment I’ll never, ever forget. We honestly had no idea whether Simon would pick us or not, so to get a yes was just the most amazing feeling in the world. We were in shock when we were phoning our parents to tell them, but we had to keep it quiet from everyone else, which made things a bit weird. I wanted to tell the world, I was so happy.

We went back home for a while after Spain, and with some money I borrowed from my mum I ordered loads of clothes for the live shows because I wanted to be prepared. I have paid her back now, by the way.

What was weird then was getting used to people knowing who I was. My audition was shown the day before I moved into the house, so all my friends were texting me to say well done. When I headed up to London we stopped at a petrol station and someone there recognised me, and that was so strange.

Moving into the house was cool, and I didn’t even mind that our room was tiny. It did get pretty grotty, because you can imagine what it’s like with five teenage boys sharing a small space. We had a lot of luggage and there was too much stuff in the room, so it ended up being a bit grim. Apparently at one point someone took a swab from the wall and sent it off to a lab for testing and it had loads of different types of bacteria on it.

We did try to keep the room tidy, but the longer we were in the show the more stuff we accumulated, and the room seemed to get smaller and smaller. I can’t have disliked it that much, though, because Louis and I are planning to move in together. It must have been bearable.

I have so many great memories of being in the house, especially all of the times I went naked. Stripping off is very liberating, I feel so free. It’s always a spur of the moment thing, but no one seemed to mind. I think Mary secretly liked it … I’d become a lot more confident during my time in the show through being in front of so many people, and my confidence came out in my nakedness. I also used to moon a bit at school, because it made me laugh, so I was carrying it on.

Sometimes I was totally starkers, and sometimes I wore a thong. My friend Nick bought me a gold snake-print thong for my birthday, and I took it into the house with me because I thought it would be funny, and then I started wearing it.

One time I had to do a naked video clip for ITV2 where I was standing there with no clothes on and the boys had to pass various objects across me, keeping certain parts covered. That was the plan, but at one point Zayn didn’t move the book he was holding quickly enough and the cameraman got a bit of an eyeful. I think you could safely say I’m not shy.

Performance wise, I really enjoyed doing ‘Something About the Way You Look Tonight’, which I suggested as soon as we heard about the Elton John week. I love that song, and I think it worked really well. We met some amazing celebrities as well. Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole are absolute legends, and Jonathan Ross had us all laughing. Alan Carr and Russell Brand were really cool as well. I can’t believe we got to meet so many of our heroes.

I found the X Factor final very emotional. We had no idea whether or not we would win, and when we came third it really hit me. I cried as soon as we got off stage, and then I stopped, took some deep breaths and was fine again. After that, when we got invited up to Simon’s office to discover our fate, I tried to stay as calm as possible, but on the inside I was terrified. As soon as Simon told us we had a record deal I started crying again and I sat there thinking, ‘Why am I crying? If this works out it’s going to totally change my life.’ My life had already changed so much, but that was the moment that told me I didn’t have to go back to doing what I did before. At least not for a while.

Even though I’d always wanted to be in a band and sing on stage when I was growing up, I never imagined it would actually happen. Imagine being told you could do exactly what you want to do for a job. It’s one of those things you always want to hear, and then when you hear it you don’t know how to react.

I couldn’t wait to tell my family the news – in fact I wanted to shout it out to everyone – but of course we had to keep it quiet. I went back downstairs to the bar area because there was a little party going on down there, and I think my parents could tell from the look on my face what had happened. We all had a massive hug and all of us were unbelievably happy and excited.

A CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER

I think we were all looking forward to having a break over Christmas. I missed the boys quite a lot, but at the same time it was great to just relax and see my family. Loads of my friends wanted to catch up, so things were quite busy, but I didn’t want people to think that I’d changed and I didn’t have time for them or whatever. Sometimes I’ll be speaking to my mates for a while and they’ll say, ‘It’s so weird, you haven’t changed at all,’ and that always makes me feel so relieved. Sometimes I stop myself from talking too much about stuff I’ve been doing, because even though it’s my job I don’t want to seem like I’m showing off or name-dropping.