2015 has proven to be a metaphorical rollercoaster for the boy-band One Direction.

November 2014-January 2015: The year began with their fourth studio album, Four, hitting No. 1 in 174 countries.

February: The band kicked off their second consecutive stadium tour, On the Road Again, in Australia.

March: Zayn Malik announced he needed a “break," and a few days later he announced his permanent departure from the band. Malik reported he was under a lot of stress; he was also involved in an alleged cheating scandal on his now ex-fiancée Perrie Edwards.

June: Rumors surfaced that Louis Tomlinson was going to be a father.

July: The band released a surprise single off their fifth album entitled “Drag Me Down.” The single peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts.

August: The band appeared on Good Morning America; Tomlinson confirmed the pregnancy allegations.People reported the band would be taking a hiatus, which member Niall Horan confirmed on Twitter.

September: They announced the release of their fifth and final, pre-hiatus album (the first without Malik) entitled Made in the A.M., due to drop in November.

The band came together by chance in 2010 on the British talent competition The X Factor. In the five years that followed, One Direction has topped music charts, sold out shows, released a movie, and developed one of the largest fan bases in history. Fans are still passionate about One Direction, despite their decision to take a hiatus, which is set to begin in March 2016.

Although critics have yet to take the band seriously, their hiatus proves that One Direction is one of the hardest working acts in popular music. With everything they have dealt with this year, it’s understandable that they need time to readjust. Other bands have proven to benefit from taking a hiatus--most notably, Fall Out Boy, whose four-year hiatus ended with a top-selling album.

Disagreements over the band's respectability center around the “brand versus band” debate; meaning, the business of the band may not reflect the members themselves. Since their inception into the music industry, the members of One Direction have said they love their jobs; but with Malik’s departure, and the threat of the band not making a return, fans are left wondering if this remains true.

Above: The promotion for the band's 2015 On the Road Again Tour, post-Zayn's departure.

As a brand, One Direction™ is currently worth $130 million according to Forbes. During their 2014 Where We Are Tour, each member grossed about £14 million each, which is approximately $21 million USD.

One Direction™ is managed by a PR team comprised of: Modest! Management, Syco and Columbia Records, their social media team, merchandise team, Simon Cowell, etc. As a brand, the hiatus will allow One Direction to reconsider the contracts they have been married to for the last five years.

As a brand, they’ve achieved something many normal bands don’t attempt: producing five albums in five years of being a band. Taylor Swift, notably the largest pop act in the world, only releases an album every two years. Ed Sheeran, who often writes songs for One Direction, has been around the industry about the same amount of time and has released only two albums. Bands that aren’t as overworked generally take six to nine months to write an album, release it, promote it, and then take time to tour it (usually three to four months at a time, unlike One Direction's current world tour which is nearly eight months long).

As a brand, One Direction doesn’t market themselves well enough. Four had very little promotion after its release; it only stayed on the top 10 charts for a few weeks and only produced two singles. Unfortunately, their lack of promotion has yet to gather an audience of both passionate and casual fans. Casual fans are important. In this case, it means fans who may not see them in concert or reblog pictures of Harry Styles on Tumblr, but will buy their music because they enjoy it. Their poor marketing is what is keeping them from winning a Grammy or any other major musical achievement award--and no, being nominated for “best fan base” is not the only award they are deserving of.

The boys have been on four consecutive world tours (five if you count The X Factor Tour in 2011), and in between the scheduled breaks, the boys are expected to write and record an entire album to be released just weeks after their final stop.

Critics of the band's nature believe the hiatus will result in a permanent break-up of the world’s biggest boy-band™. Band members have individual identities, and overtime that might interfere with the group identity. It’s not a secret that the band has matured over the years; they've shifted from cheeky lads in coordinating outfits, to edgier men who have developed their own personalities. They could benefit from a break, as their entire career has been centered around One Direction™, and not the actual members themselves.

Above: The very first picture taken of the new boyband One Direction on the seventh series of the X Factor in 2010.

But, let’s drop the ™ for a second.

Five boys from five different locations came together on accident to create one of the largest musical empires in history. Did you know that the year One Direction was on X Factor, it was the first year Ireland was allowed to audition? Or that Zayn almost slept through his audition, but his mom dragged him out of bed? Or that Liam came back after being eliminated two years prior? Or that Harry had just made the age cutoff? Or that Harry and Louis met in the bathroom before their auditions, not knowing they’d be apart of the largest band in the world?

As a band, One Direction has impacted millions of lives in ways the boys probably weren’t expecting. What’s terrible, though, is the lack of respect they receive based on their primarily female fan-base. When you picture fans of One Direction, you probably see screaming 13-year-old girls with the boys’ names painted on their faces being washed away by tears. The way the media stereotypes the band, as well as their fans (e.g. the U.K.'s Channel 4 documentary Crazy About One Direction, which depicted fans as "crazy" and "brainwashed"), takes away from the band's work ethic and heart. It is hard to continue working the way they do when the media chastises them instead of praises them.

Of course, we don’t know what’s driving the boys to hiatus, or if it is even a hiatus at all. The camaraderie amongst the boys is deeply rooted in who they are as both One Direction and One Direction™. Fans, critics, and everyday people are only seeing a small portion of their lives. Over time, it’s possible to lose touch with yourself when you’ve been a part of something so large for so long. The band says they’re not going anywhere. But maybe it’s time to remember that the members of One Direction are people, and so are their fans. One Direction is accomplished, but they are on their way to becoming a band with a healthier work schedule, and members who are more content.