by BRIANNA SICILIANO Social Media Coordinator
November should be known as “National One Direction Album Leak Month!”
Every November, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, and Liam Payne plan to release their latest album, and, every year, the album manages to leak. One Direction fans are not complaining, though. Especially not this year, because their newest album, “FOUR”, might just be their best work yet.
As you may have already guessed, “FOUR” is their fourth album. It is crazy to think of how far these five band members have come over the last four years.
The group of young men started off their singing careers on “The X Factor,” and now they are traveling worldwide to promote and perform their newest songs. From “What Makes You Beautiful”to their next single “Night Changes,” the band has definitely matured and improved with age.
“FOUR” kicks off with the band’s first single, “Steal My Girl.” This catchy tune has been at the top of the charts for weeks, catching everyone’s attention.
When the album leaked, however, fans who have been obsessing over this track realized that “Steal My Girl” sounds nothing like the rest of the album! Whether this is good or bad depends on the fan you ask, as opinions differ.
“I have never enjoyed any of One Direction’s music, but this album might be different. I am not sure yet…what I am sure of, is that their hit song, ‘Steal My Girl,’ has been my jam for a few weeks now,” said senior Hiral Patel.
The next track on the album is titled “Ready to Run.” If you close your eyes and listen to this song, you can imagine it playing in an inspirational scene of a movie.
The chorus kicks off with the lines, “This time I’m ready to run, escape from the city and follow the sun/ ‘Cause I wanna be yours, don’t you wanna be mine?/ I wanna get lost in the dark of the night.” If that does not inspire you to chase your dreams with the one you love, I do not know what will.
However, I must admit, “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” is one of the tracks I am most looking forward to hearing live next summer when the band goes on tour.
Written by Harry Styles, Julian Bunetta, and a few other writers, “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” is an extremely catchy tune. Throughout the entire song, Styles, Tomlinson, Horan, Malik, and Payne repeatedly ask, “Now I’m searchin’ every lonely place, every corner crying out your name/ Tryna find you but I just don’t know…where do broken hearts go?”
“18,” written by Ed Sheeran and Passenger, is a beautifully-written song that is sung perfectly by all five members. Surely, this is a love song that make fans cry once they hear it for the first time.
“Night Changes,” the band’s next single, was written by Styles, Tomlinson, and Horan, and a few of their friends who help out with writing. The entire song was written perfectly. I especially love the chorus, and I am sure that you will, too.
“‘Night Changes’ is one of my favorite songs on ‘FOUR,’ and I think it is one of my favorites because of the ways that the band members portray the lyrics. They are not just singing about the girl that they love; they are singing with passion and admiration. I cannot wait to see the music video for this song!” said senior Giulietta Flaherty.
Track eight, one of my favorite tracks on the album, is called “No Control.” The song was written by Tomlinson, Payne, and a few other writers. This is one of my favorites because of the song’s upbeat tempo, the lyric-and-music combination, and because Tomlinson’s voice can be distinctly heard.
In the band’s first album, “Up All Night,” Tomlinson and Horan were hardly ever heard, and the two young men were only allowed to sing in the chorus. Over time, Horan and Tomlinson have begun to sing more and have more solos. It is crazy to see how far these boys have come, and how talented all five members of One Direction are.
Song number nine on “FOUR” is “Fireproof,” which was written by Tomlinson, Payne, and a few other writers. “Fireproof” was released for free in early September for 24 hours and, in those hours, the song was downloaded over a million times. Some of the most powerful lines of the song are in the chorus: “‘Cause nobody knows you, baby, the way I do/ And nobody loves you, baby, the way I do/ It’s been so long, it’s been so long, baby, you’re fireproof/ ‘Cause nobody saves me baby the way you do.”
“Spaces,” written by Tomlinson, Payne, and other writers, will probably become one of the fan favorites. This song can be related to in many ways; the lyrics speak about the spaces between each other, and how the spaces keep getting deeper. People are getting further and further apart, leaving them speechless. If you have grown apart from your friends, best friends, family members, significant other, favorite hobby or sport, or maybe even your favorite singer(s), you will be able to relate to the space that is between you and whatever/whomever you are growing apart from.
Overall, “FOUR” sounds like the album that One Direction was born to sing. All the boys were involved in the writing of the album, especially Tomlinson and Payne. All of their hard work has paid off, clearly, because the songs are amazing. There are still four bonus tracks that have yet to leak – “Change Your Ticket,” “Illusion,” “Once in a Lifetime,” and “Act My Age.”
Give “FOUR” a listen and tell me what you think. Which song is your favorite off of “FOUR?” Make sure to buy the album, and if you love it enough, do your best to purchase tickets for their “On the Road Again” tour! The band will play Metlife Stadium on August 5, 2015, and Lincoln Financial Field on September 1, 2015.