One Direction’s latest album takes its listeners on a completely different route.
The first two albums, “Up All Night” and “Take Me Home,” have given One Direction its international fame. The albums were filled with classic boy-band songs that are fun to dance to or to play as background music on a girls’ night.
Then the movie “One Direction: This is Us” was released in September and the band’s popularity grew even more. “This is Us” grossed at about $68 million worldwide.
The band’s newest album, “Midnight Memories,” shows that the band’s sound has grown up since its previous albums and so have the band’s members: Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Liam Payne.
The deluxe edition of the album contains 18 songs, all of which are available to listen to on Spotify.
The first song on the album, “Best Song Ever,” released as a single in July 2013 to promote the band’s movie prior to its release. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and continues to play on several Top 40 radio stations almost five months later.
While the song may seem a bit outdated for the album, it still has catchy lyrics and rhythms that will get stuck in your head for at least five minutes after listening to it.
Not everyone may consider it to really be the best song ever, but it’s good to kick off a new album with something upbeat and familiar.
The second track is also the second single – “Story of My Life.” This song, which released at the end of October, has only reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, but since it’s fairly new, it plays more frequently and is making its way up on the Top 40 stations.
“Story of My Life” immediately is much more toned down compared to “Best Song Ever.” The acoustic guitar and steady beat of the drum give the song a much more folk-ish feeling, but it still has the boy-band pop that One Direction is known for.
The lyrics, along with the tone of the song, are much more somber than what is normally released by One Direction.
The next song, “Diana,” is upbeat and fun, much like a lot of the other singles One Direction has released. The song will more than likely be well received by 1D fans, but several other songs on the album may overshadow it.
“Midnight Memories,” is one of the more memorable songs on the album and not just because it is the title track. This song has a bit of a rock sound to it with some pop undertones. Like many other songs on the album, it also has a catchy chorus.
It’s been said that a good album should rise and fall, so after a few more upbeat songs, the mood becomes more serious with “You & I.”
Unlike “Diana,” “You & I” has much more hopeful lyrics as the band says whomever they’re singing to that despite all of the relationships that fall apart, they will stick together no matter what. The theme is a bit old-hat, but it’s not a bad song.
“Don’t Forget Where You Belong” talks about how even though you can travel to a lot of places, you should never forget where your home is.
Fans who saw “This Is Us” will know that the band members travel across the world and may only get to see their families back in the United Kingdom for six days out of one year. So it’s safe to say that 1D knows what it’s like to come home after traveling for so long.
The theme of the song also gives fans a bit of variety to the types of songs they listen to.
The album starts to pick up a bit with “Strong,” but the next one picks up much more.
“Happily,” is a mix of the happy upbeat pop that is classic for One Direction and some folk/indie pop that the band has been experimenting with. This song will appeal to many different audiences, even if most of them will be female.
“Right Now” softens up a bit and talks about missing someone who’s far away. It almost sounds like something read in a postcard, but with a much deeper meaning. This song will join classics like it such as “Hey There Delilah” and “Ass Back Home.”
“Little Black Dress” will definitely be a fan favorite. This song adds a bit of variety to the album with a classic rock sound and a shorter run time. Its playful lyrics will more than likely make it one of the songs that are put on repeat for an hour.
Some of the other memorable songs of the album include “Little White Lies,” and “Does He Know?.”
“Does He Know?” will appeal to some people because the beginning guitar sounds a bit like the 1980s song “Take Me Home Tonight” by Eddie Money.
Overall, “Midnight Memories” is a fun album with good music. The only potential problem is that because there are so many tracks, some songs are more memorable than others.
“Midnight Memories” is the fastest selling album of One Direction’s career – selling more than 273,000 copies in the first week of its release.
KHADIJA DJELLOULI
