Wednesday 11

Coffee break

Love traditional coffee? SIAL Middle East 2019 and the live presentations of the first Gahwa Championships are on in Abu Dhabi today and Gahwa (Arabic coffee) enthusiasts are in for a treat. Watch the masters take home prizes, Visit www. gahwachampionships.ae for more info.

When you are part of a wildly successful global boy band like 1D, you have to be either extremely foolhardy or obsessively self-absorbed to attempt a solo career. After all it’s a truth universally acknowledged within the rarefied world of celebrity music that how you market yourself is more important than the vocal chops you display in front of the mic. And what better packaging than five young easy-on-the-eye lads.

While Harry Styles and Zayn Malik are arguably the most popular 1D members, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Niall Horan had to settle for a more ‘vanilla’ image in comparison to their slightly more edgy and spunky bandmates. All have launched solo careers, with varying degrees of success.

In a recent interview Payne admits that it was “touch and go” for him following Zayn’s high profile departure from the band. He has had to battle demons in the form of alcohol and drug abuse as well as the punishing loneliness of fame.

His unexpected coupling with the more high profile Cheryl Cole and the subsequent birth of their son Bear, brought the spotlight back on the now 27-year old. Following their split, Payne has attempted to get back into the limelight, however the recent release of his new album LP1 hasn’t been met with much fanfare. But hopefully Payne is grown up enough to figure out that he might not have four bandmates to fall back on in this new journey, but if he gets the tune right eventually, this solo walk could well turn into a triumphant strut down the stage.

Read all about the former One Directioner and his new album in today’s issue of City Times. Enjoy!