Harry Styles told Zane Lowe in an Apple Music interview how he has much respect and love he has for his One Direction bandmates—Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan—even seven years after they disbanded. The “As It Was” singer said he couldn’t have navigated fame without them.

“I look at people who kind of went through some version of what we went through, but on their own. I’m like, I can’t imagine having done that, really,” Harry said. “I feel really lucky that we always had each other to be this unit that felt like you could keep each other in check and you could just have someone else who gets it.”

Harry described the experience of being in One Direction from its conception in 2010 on X Factor to its end in 2015 as isolating. He compared it to being on one side of the glass while everyone else is on the other. While in the band, he was able to feel like he had others on his side.

“I think there is very much a respect between all of us, if we did something together,” he continued. “And that is something that you can’t really undo. And you know, it’s like a very deep love for each other, I think.”

The 28-year-old artist explained that while in the band, he felt like he “emotionally coasted.”

“I didn’t really feel anything,” Harry said. “And we’d go through real highs in the band and stuff, and it would always just feel like a relief. Like, ‘Oh, we didn’t fail. That feels like a massive relief.’ I never really felt like I celebrated anything.”

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He credited his time in therapy with helping him “open a bunch of doors” in his mind. The more doors he opened, the harder it got to emotionally coast because “the room exists and the scale has just widened.”

Harry told Better Homes & Garden earlier this month that he started therapy five years ago and began to feel the extremes he’d been ignoring by emotionally coasting. “I think that accepting living, being happy, hurting in the extremes,” he said, “that is the most alive you can be.”

Although he has a deep bond with his bandmates, he said he “felt free” when he started a solo career and signed a contract for his 2017 self-titled album.

Courtesy of Apple Music

The “Fine Line” singer performed at Coachella in April, debuting the song “Boyfriends,” which will be on his upcoming album, Harry’s House. Harry told Apple Music that he actually had a rough demo of the song ready while he was finishing his sophomore album, 2019’s Fine Line. Instead of rushing it, he concluded that the song would have its time. Ben Harper joined the song on the guitar and the story of it started to come into focus.

“I think the good part of [“Boyfriends”] is that it is everything,” Harry explained. “It’s both acknowledging my own behavior. It’s looking at behavior that I’ve witnessed. I grew up with a sister, so it’s watching her date people and watching friends date people, and people don’t treat each other very nicely sometimes.”

He added, “It was one of those really quick, just say what you think of boyfriends.”