The band’s most favoured themes – nostalgia, bittersweet memories, young love, friendship – are all present and correct. It doesn’t really fit at the end of the album on its own, it’s an impressive and rather moving pop ballad with some of the band’s best vocal work, including those superb harmonies on the chorus. Perhaps not the most obvious choice for number one, this enormously underrated track from Take Me Home has a title that belies its disarmingly mature approach, from the lyrics to the romantic production filled with sweeping violins and tender guitars. Meanwhile that driving, synth-pop backing track is a dead ringer for “Style” – Swift’s song widely believed to have been written about Styles himself (if the title wasn’t enough of a clue). He references knights in shining armour and a person “looking for someone to write your breakup songs about”. 'Kiss You' was reportedly written in response to a challenge from the group's manager Simon Cowell for notable songwriters to come up with songs for their second studio album.
Harry Styles gets top marks for sheer audacity with this blatant riff on a classic song by his ex-girlfriend, Taylor Swift. The song became One Direction's sixth top 10 pop hit in the UK upon release as a single in late January 2013. Malik’s vocal performance here is particularly impressive, but each member gives the track their all. Yet after five virtually non-stop years, it was clear that even these energetic young lads were beginning to run out of steam.Ī defiant song that has 1D paying proper tribute to all the great boybands who came before them. They won more than 200 awards, including seven Brits, four MTV Music Awards, seven AMAs and six Billboard Music Awards. They have sold 200 million records worldwide, and as recently as 2019, achieved 3.6 billion streams across Spotify, YouTube and other platforms.
Over the course of five studio albums, “the boys” made music history on multiple occasions, smashing industry records previously set by The Beatles and achieving that rarest of feats: breaking America. While their potential for success was noted by many at the time, no one could have predicted the phenomenon they would become. After initially auditioning as solo artists, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne became One Direction.
and then went on an indefinite hiatus from 2016, with each of the members focusing on and pursuing solo music careers.Ten years ago, five aspiring singers were grouped together by Simon Cowell to compete as a boyband on the then-popular reality show, The X-Factor. Later that year, the remaining group released their fifth and final album together titled, Made In the A.M. On March 25, 2015, Zayn Malik left One Direction, which left the boy band to became only 4. One Direction around this time uploaded silly videos amongst themselves that was featured on their YouTube channel which only propelled their image further to a wider younger audience.Įach of the following years (before Malik's departure) after their debut, One Direction had released an album in order of their discography - Take Me Home, Midnight Memories and Four. In November 2011, they released their debut album, Up All Night and became forces to be reckoned with with their immediate global status in the world (along the likes of other big boybands like Backstreet Boys). The song Na Na Na was released as a B-side to their debut single. One Direction's official first single, What Makes You Beautiful, received its first airplay on Augand the music video was released a month later on September 11, 2011. They applied as solo candidates on the 2010 edition of the X Factor, but the judges, after a suggestion by Cowell, put them in a band in London, UK therefore qualifying for the Groups category. One Direction were originally a five-member boy band from England made up of Liam Payne (born 29 August 1993), Louis Tomlinson (born 24 December 1991), Niall Horan (born 13th September 1993), Harry Styles (born 1 February 1994), and Zayn Malik (born 12 January 1993).