High Five for One Direction

Niall Horan

• Birthday: Sept. 13, 1993

• Zodiac Sign: Virgo

• Hometown: Mullingar,

Ireland

• Favorite Movie: Grease

• Favorite Color: Blue

• He’s left-handed and

has soft spot for girls

with green eyes

Liam Payne

• Birthday: Aug. 29, 1993

• Zodiac Sign: Virgo

• Hometown: Wolverhampton,

United Kingdom

• Favorite Movie: Marley &

Me (“It made me cry”)

• Favorite Song: Happy

Birthday (it means he gets

to open presents!)

• Avid fan of boxing

Harry Styles

• Birthday: Feb. 1, 1994

• Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

• Hometown: Village of Holmes

Chapel in Cheshire, UK

• Favorite Movie(s): Love

Actually and Fight Club

• Favorite TV show: Family

Guy

• Favorite Song: Free Falling

(by John Mayer)

Louis Tomlinson

• Birthday: Dec. 24, 1991

• Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

• Hometown: Doncaster, UK

• Favorite Song: Look After

You (by The Fray)

• Hates to be tickled

• Worst Habit: Talking too much

Zayn Malik

• Birthday: Jan. 12, 1993

• Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

• Hometown: Bradford,

West Yorkshire

• Favorite Song: Thriller

(by Michael Jackson)

• Favorite Band: ‘NSYNC

• Has soft spot for

intelligent girls

LONDON — Funny but when friends back home asked me what I was coming here for…you know, “Are you going to visit the Queen?”...I would say, “I have a feeling that I’m going to interview Madonna.” I was not sure about it but that’s what PR Asia Worldwide head Joyce Ramirez made me believe (even if, honestly, I didn’t believe her, hehehehe!).

It was only when I got here one drizzling night, straight out of the tube from Heathrow Airport into my cool (read: Expensive!) room at the W Hotel on Leicester Square that I learned who I flew 18 hours from Manila for — yes, the quintet One Direction which Joyce has negotiated for Penshoppe as its newest endorser. “Madonna” turned out to be a “secret code” to keep the Penshoppe-One Direction negotiation under wraps.

The Penshoppe team was all accounted for: Penshoppe boss Bernie Liu and his wife Alice, Penshoppe brand director Alex Mendoza and, of course, Joyce and sister Johna (with little daughter).

Composed of (at random now) Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson, One Direction is the hottest boy band in the world today, something the boys said they never thought of in their wildest imagination especially since individually they didn’t pass the auditions for The X Factor but joined the contest just the same after somebody (was it judge Nicole Scherzinger, the half-Filipino member of Pussycat Dolls?) suggested that they form a group. Still, they finished only third to Rebecca Ferguson (first) and Matt Cardle (second). Managed by X Factor founder Simon Cowell (of American Idol fame), One Direction hit the charts with its debut album What Makes You Beautiful. The rest is a musical history that continues to unfold around the world, cheered on by millions and millions of fans.

Their latest album, Live While We’re Young, is on the lips of probably every teenager in the world. And soon, those five cute faces will be smiling back at us Filipinos from huge Penshoppe billboards around the country.

After the Penshoppe pictorial at an A-list London studio, the five boys looked as normal as anybody, proving that, even if they are superstars, left to their own devices, boys will be boys. They clown around, gently tap each other’s back, poke fun at a member’s crew cut and just horse around.

They sat for a quick Conversation and here’s what I got:

You guys have been together for two years already. How have things been with you as One Direction; what have you discovered about one another?

Zayn: Hmmm, I think we’ve been together like every day, so we get to know one another quite well. We just get on very well and, yeah, we now know one another pretty well.

Niall: I think, you know, we’ve learned how to deal with each other’s personality. We know each other’s boundaries and stuff like that. Like, if someone is tired, the others just leave him alone. We know the dynamics of the group.

Louis: Ah, we know each other far better than we did when we started together as a group. We’re just cool.

Harry: We’ve just kind of grown as a group, especially if you look back at a year or two ago.

Liam: We’re still similar as people and just as human as anybody else.

How do you cope with the big changes in your lives?

Zayn: Hmmmm, I won’t say that, you know, it’s something that you really have to like. It’s just something that kind of happened to us and has become part of our everyday lives. You go to work, do some crazy stuff and it’s fun!

Niall: I think it came as a big shock to the system. We just kind of roll over it and look at it as normal. Every day, we get up and do whatever it is that we are scheduled to do. We just have to be ourselves.

Louis: Ah, we went right out of school and suddenly, we have this great responsibility and that, I think, is the biggest change in our lives. But so far, it’s great fun!

Harry: Things have been amazing so far. What’s important is for us to just focus on our work and have fun.

Liam: We’ve become busier than we were last year. Yes, we’ve been busier most of the time. Our lives have been kind of turned upside down and like what they said, we just have to enjoy it and, yes, have fun!

What’s the best thing about being an 1D (question and answers reprinted from the One Direction: The Official Annual 2013)?

Harry: Being with four mates all of the time, going to cool places, meetings lots of nice people and having a laugh constantly. Even if we’re really tired, we’re still having a good time.

Liam: I get to travel the world with my four best friends, do brilliant shows, see the most amazing places and meet incredible people. We’ve been having such a laugh together and I think we got even closer with all the traveling and the craziness. We met (US First Lady) Michelle Obama and you can’t quite believe it when things like that happen. We showed her a picture of the statue of (US Pres.) Barrack Obama we bought Niall for his birthday and she loved it. We had to turn down an invite to the White House because we had shows booked in at the same time. How mad is that? It almost doesn’t seem real.

Zayn: The other four lads. I’ve got four very good mates out of being in the band and that’s cool. We all keep each other down to earth and there’s no way I could have done this as a solo artist. I would have cracked up and given it all up and gone home by now. The lads keep me grounded and it’s good to know you’re not the only person going through everything. We’re sharing every experience.

Louis: Pretty much everything. We never expected to release in America and get the kind of reaction we did, so that’s been amazing. And to then go on and do so well in Australia was incredible. It’s great to visit so many different places and I love performing on stage to thousands of people and seeing the audience waving banners and wearing One Direction T-shirts. And we’re still having such a good time as mates, which is the main thing.

Niall: Just being together with all the crew around us. It’s a good laugh and when you’re doing crazy hours and you’re tired sometimes, you know the other lads are there for you. We also get to travel the world and we’ve got so many dedicated fans out there and that makes me smile every day.

How do you feel endorsing a Filipino brand like Penshoppe; and what’s your favorite Penshoppe item?

Zayn: Hmmmm, the clothes are very cool. I like the jacket; it’s pretty cool.

Niall: It’s nice and comfortable.

Louis: Yes, they’re right. Nice and comfortable, and very cool.

Harry: I like the blue shirt that I wore during the pictorial.

Liam: I’m glad that Penshoppe got us as endorsers. It’s pretty strange to be considered as endorsers; it’s something we never expected. I like the shirts. It must be nice to work in the Philippines. We’re flattered to be recognized in that country.

You mentioned the Philippines. What have you heard about the Philippines?

Liam: We’ve got lots of fans in the Philippines. Sometimes we connect to them through hashtag. It’s nice to be known in a country that you’ve never even been to. We would love to go there some time.

Harry: Oh, the Filipino fans are interesting! As Liam said, we’d love to visit the Philippines one of these days and personally say “Hi!” to our fans out there.

Louis: Yes, we do look forward to coming down to the Philippines. Our fan base is really, really strong down there. They are very good. I hope that we can get a chance to go to the Philippines in the next couple of years.

Niall: You see, we see so many people on Twitter and many of them are from the Philippines.

Zayn: Hmmmm, hi to everybody in the Philippines!

You’ve been so busy these past two years. Do you ever have time to relax and enjoy yourselves?

Liam: You know, we chill out and just do normal stuff like go shopping, play some PlayStation.

Harry: We do things that anybody would usually do — you know, stay home and spend time with your family. Or, see friends and watch films.

Louis: Go to the gym or chill out at home and talk to friends on the phone. You know, very normal.

Niall: I like to chill on the sofa while talking to my friend and play the guitar. Or just watch TV.

Zayn: Hmmmm, like Niall, I like to chill on the sofa, see my family and friends.

Anything you want to say to your fans in the Philippines?

Zayn: Hmmmm, hello!

Niall (being coached by somebody who’s obviously a Filipino): Mabuhay!

Louis (following Niall’s cue): Mabuhay, Philippines!

Harry (following Louis’ cue): Mabuhay, Philippines! We’ll come and see you!

Liam (following Harry’s cue): Mabuhay, Philippines! See yah!

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)