Last week it was announced that One Direction will be going on hiatus in March next year.
This comes as no surprise after Zayn Malik's departure earlier this year to pursue a solo career, and with the band's fifth album set to come out next year, it looks like the boy band phenomenon is coming to the end of its natural life.
Ostensibly it is only a break and not a break-up, but we all know how that argument worked out for Ross when he cheated on Rachel in Friends. In short, it didn't and so we all know that One D won't be coming back from their hiatus.
The boys have been touring almost non-stop for five years.
They've released an album every year since they started, they confront tens of thousands of screaming fans every day, and are tied up with all sorts of exhausting publicity commitments.
It's no wonder they don't have the energy to keep going, as sad as that might be for so many young women.
I'm handling the news quite well, and instead of sobbing hysterically on my bed over photos of Harry Styles for hours at a time I have been reflecting on my relationship with One Direction and pop music more generally.
The more I consider it, the more I am certain that One Direction have been the most significant musical discovery I have had in the last five years of my life.
Before I decided to watch the One Direction film This Is Us out of pure curiosity, I was convinced, like most foolish people, that pop music was the devil and if I was to maintain any integrity I must avoid it at all costs.
For me, One Direction undid years of conditioning that told me if I wanted to be a serious person, I couldn't listen to music that made me purely happy and nothing else. Never before had I listened to music that was easy, that I didn't have to be in the mood for.
Something I have always struggled with is understanding what exactly I like in music.
From my adolescence onwards I have been told that if I want to be a cool musician girl then I need to listen to proper music that requires maximum effort to enjoy.
And for the longest time I only listened to that kind of music and felt guilty when I enjoyed anything else.
This sense of shame was so ingrained that for the first few months I was listening to One Direction I kept it a secret, hiding my laptop screen whenever anyone would walk past and glance at my music library. I was so ashamed at liking something so asinine.
But soon I realised that listening to pop music doesn't make me silly, it makes me happy, because it's supposed to do that.
And on top of that, it is 100% more useful when it comes to writing music than anything dissonant I have ever appreciated or been told to appreciate. One Direction gave me access to music that made me reconsider the way I approach melody and the way I approach sitting down and writing music and rhythms.
I've since broadened my horizons and One Direction are no longer my one and only pop fix. But when I listen to them, I feel nothing but unadulterated joy. I can listen to one of their songs on repeat for days and days and days.
Their enthusiasm and sincerity rivals that of any indie band I have ever seen or played with.
One Direction might be over but their gorgeous, shameless pop music will continue to be so important to me personally, and to so many other people.
Millie Lovelock is a Dunedin student.
