One Direction, Including Zayn Malik, Come Together on Sesame Street and Band Aid 30's Christmas Track

Boy band is busier than ever as they launch an album in the United States

By Mike Vulpo Nov 18, 2014 12:43 AMTags

For a band called One Direction, they sure have been traveling all over the place the past few days.

Before they released their fourth studio album, Four, Monday morning, the former X-Factor contestants paid a visit to Sesame Street where they delivered an important message to their youngest fans.

In a parody to their hit song "What Makes You Beautiful," the guys sang about the importance of being useful and most importantly, the letter "u."

"I love you, do you know you're so useful," One Direction sings when explaining "u" in the alphabet. "That's what makes you so useful."

Pretty clever, right?

Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images

For a slightly older audience, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles and Zayn Malik joined more than a dozen of the biggest voices in music to celebrate Christmas a little early.

In a new track just released, Ed Sheeran, Rita Ora, Ellie Goulding and more singers join the boy band to cover "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

All proceeds from the song, available now on iTunes, will go towards stopping the spread of Ebola in West Africa.

While the group stayed united with their recent projects, Directioners noticed an absence Monday morning on NBC's Today show.

While performing at the Universal Orlando Resort, the group was missing their close friend, Zayn. The reason? He wasn't feeling too well.

"He's got a tummy bug, so he's not very well," Liam shared before #GetWellSoonZayn trended worldwide on Twitter. "We only found out this morning so we're really sad. He is as well, that he can't be here for our album release."

Here's to a speedy recovery for Zayn. Hopefully he's following Sesame Street's advice and focusing on "u."