British boy band One Direction has announces its fourth album, titled "FOUR," expected for release later this year.

Why "FOUR" when there are five band members? Is the band hinting at a potential departure of one of the band members, or is it simply because it's the band's fourth album? Whatever be the case, fans couldn't be happier. One Direction took to YouTube over the weekend to announce the upcoming album. The group also shared the announcement on Twitter.

"Our new album is called FOUR! we've been working so hard on this...so glad we can share it with you!!!" the band tweeted.

The post was accompanied by a video featuring the five singers as they thanked their fans and announced a free track for their legions of admirers. Earlier last week, the band had also offered fans a sneak peek into what to expect from the upcoming concert film "Where We Are" by releasing a new trailer.

Arts Alliance, the distributing company, announced that "'One Direction: Where We Are - The Concert Film," will be a "90-minute treat for fans." The film has interviews with all the band members- Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson and a live recording of their concert at San Siro stadium in Milan.

So much has been said about the members of 1D potentially parting ways, even some of the band members have come forward to dash rumors. To put an end to the chatter, producer and founder of the band Simon Cowell took to Twitter a few weeks ago to confirm the band's solidarity.

"Just to clear up the rumors it is my guess and my hope One D will stay together for a very long time," he tweeted. "The boys are having the best time. And as I said recently their new album is really really good."

The rumors gained some credence because the boy band is very rarely seen together nowadays. However, the negative rumors were shot down by another 1D member, Liam Payne, who clarified that they were all just busy writing songs for their newest album. Styles also echoed similar sentiments in an interview with Metro.

"We're not breaking up. We've spent every day together for months and I forgot what my mum looked like. It's just holidays... We're on WhatsApp messaging each other all the time, talking about song ideas and just funny stuff from our day," Styles said.

Check out the announcement below. You can also download the single on the Internet.