When One Direction was first formed on 2010’s X Factor in Britain, the 5-member boy band quickly picked up a loyal following. Now, three years into the phenomenon, the boys are preparing for the release of their 3rd studio album, Midnight Memories.
Due to be released November 25th of 2013, the album will be the follow-up to their second album, Take Me Home, and their debut album entitled Up All Night.
The album’s first single is “Best Song Ever,” which was released on July 22nd and the second single will be officially released on October 28th and is called “Story of My Life.”
The members of One Direction (Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik) began working on Midnight Memories while still on their second headlining tour, the Take Me Home Tour. The album was announced simultaneously with the news of the band’s third world tour, the Where We Are Tour.
The album has been described as having “a slightly rockier” tone than that of their previous releases. This is clearly heard in “Best Song Ever.”
Also differing from their past two albums, Midnight Memories will not have a song written by Ed Sheeran.
Despite earlier reports that Sheeran would continue his song-writing collaborations with the band, the indie singer-songwriter regarded, “I haven’t done any songs on [Midnight Memories]. I’ve actually kind of cut myself from giving any people songs at the moment, because I want to make my album.”
In the past, Sheeran worked with One Direction to write their hit single “Little Things” and two other songs, “Moments” and “Over Again.”
According to the confirmed track list, released on October 11 via the band’s twitter, there are 14 songs on the standard version, 3 of which were written by at least one of the band members.
Half of those 14 songs were contributed by Jamie Scott, who has been very prolific on One Direction’s past albums, writing songs like “More Than This” and “She’s Not Afraid.” Scott also wrote 2 of the 4 bonus tracks that will be included on the deluxe edition of Midnight Memories.
After listening to and dissecting both “Best Song Ever” and “Story of My Life” (particularly the latter) it is evident that One Direction beginning to grow as artists, and as people for that matter. From the looks of it, the band has figured out what they want to do with their image, sound, and career.
What they say is true; the third time is a charm.