One Direction might be gone but one thing we’ll always have is the five-piece’s hilariously chaotic cut of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” on kids’ instruments with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots. The viral Christmas video featured Niall Horan barely holding together while rocking out on a banana, Zayn crushing his triangle part, and Harry Styles’ delectable baritone stealing everybody’s hearts. It’s classic One Direction with all the charm the boys are known for and all the good vibes.
Fans couldn’t get over how happy Niall looked with his banana percussion part, and how dedicated Zayn was to delivering his triangle part. Vocally, the highlights were Liam Payne’s smooth tenor and Harry Styles’ vocal solo and ad libs. It’s fun to replay just to watch each member’s expressions and parts, because they’re all hilarious. The Music Man has to say that this is just the kind of feel-good watch that’s perfect to get into a festive mood for Christmas.
One Direction’s Christmas collab with Fallon was a big hit, drawing 9.7 million views when it was uploaded to The Tonight Show channel. Fans gave plenty of love below the video, adding comments such as “The amount of happiness this gives me” and “I literally had to watch this six times to focus on each member separately, and then watch it again to just enjoy them all together.”
Another Christmas classic moment from one of the One Direction boys came when Niall Horan dropped in to read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas in seven different accents on The Tonight Show. The Irish star displayed an impressive panache for mimicry, nailing Scottish, Russian, Spanish, US Southern, French, Brooklyn, and Australian accents. Niall is such a natural entertainer, and seeing him go to town on the accents is side-splitting to watch.
One Direction appeared on The Tonight Show for the Christmas jam on December 23, 2014. This was during the promotional cycle for their fourth album, Four, which had dropped the previous month. The appearance was just three months before the departure of Zayn Malik, who left One Direction halfway through their Asian tour on March 25, 2015. Fans noted that Zayn was the only member who didn’t get a vocal solo on The Tonight Show and joked that was why he left the band. The Music Man has to note that Zayn does look a tad less engaged in the performance than the other members, which hints at his increasing dissatisfaction with his role in the band at the time.