Why English singer Zayn Malik is making headlines

ZAYN, WHO?

Ok, grandpa. You obviously haven’t heard about One Direction.

ONE, WHAT?

Uffo, it’s a boy band and Zayn has left it.

I SUSPECTED YOU WERE A BACKSTREET BOYS KINDA GUY. GO ON.

Gosh, no! Zayn’s quit because apparently he couldn’t bear the spotlight. Wants a pretty normal life and time to relax after a hectic five years with the band.

THAT’S KIND OF STRANGE.

Not really. He’s not the first. Geri Halliwell left Spice Girls citing depression. Won’t be the last. In Zayn’s case, there are rumours of love trouble too pushing him to quit.

AH! BET THE FANS ARE DISTRAUGHT.

They are weeping. Zayn was the second most recognisable guy in the band after Harry Styles ( Taylor Swift’s ex), he had a bad boy image and well, he could sing too.

HMM. SO SAD.

No kidding. Reactions range from sad — "if the world is against you I will be against the world" — to depressed — "I’m crying so hard I can’t breathe." #AlwaysInOurHeartsZaynMalik has 5.3 million tweets.

THAT BAD, EH?

These guys are hugely popular. Fans, as you would expect, are teenage girls. They have made sure that every one of One Direction's first four studio albums debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. Check out their YouTube video Story of My Life. It has more than 340 million views — that's 70 million more than Beyoncé's Drunk in Love.

NOOOO. MORE POPULAR THAN BEYONCE. WHAT’S THE WORLD COMING TO?

It’s simple. Teenage girls run the internet.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Big shadow on its future. Typically bands, especially boy bands, break up after a member leaves.