The ins and outs of your teenager’s favourite band
Here at Party Tracker, where most of us are in our late 30s and early 40s, we always thought that One Direction was just a traffic sign. We’re glad to say we’re now a more enlightened bunch. When we recently got hold of our fabulous new One Direction partyware, including One Direction paper plates, One Direction paper cups, napkins and table covers, and lifesize cutouts of the band members, we were eager to find out more about these handsome young men and why teenage girls are living, breathing and dreaming One Direction. Well, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!
If, like us, you didn’t tune into the seventh series of The X Factor in 2010, then you’ll probably be unaware that this English-Irish pop band came third in the competition. However, these five young men weren’t originally a group when they entered the competition. They actually came on to the show as individual contestants until it was suggested that they form a five-piece boy band. It was this decision that kept them in the competition, now in the ‘groups’ category, under Simon Cowell’s mentorship.
Since then, the five members of One Direction − Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson – have gone on to achieve major success. After the competition, the band members got themselves a £2 million record contract with Simon Cowell’s record label. The band’s first single, 'What Makes You Beautiful', became the fastest-selling single of 2011 and entered the charts at number one in both the UK and Ireland. You may remember the band performing this same song at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. In March 2012, One Direction released its first album, Up All Night. It became the UK’s fastest-selling debut album and topped the charts in 16 countries. It also sold 500,000 digital copies in the US – the greatest number for any boy band’s first album – giving One Direction a place in the Guinness World Records. By August 2012, over 3 million copies of Up All Night had been sold worldwide.
The band’s second album, Take Me Home, followed in November 2012. It sold 4.4 million copies, making it the fourth best-selling album globally that year. Its lead single, 'Live While We’re Young', reached the top ten in almost every country it charted in. ‘Little Things’, the album’s second single, debuted at number one in the UK at the same time as the album, making One Direction the youngest act in British chart history to achieve this double accolade.
The success of the band has also brought a publishing deal with HarperCollins, with One Direction: Forever Young (Our Official X Factor Story), which topped The Sunday Times best-seller list. They were the biggest winners of the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, winning three nominations, including Best New Artist. In the same year, they received two BRIT Awards, including Best British Single with 'What Makes You Beautiful', and performed in the presence of Queen Elizabeth ll at the 2012 Royal Variety Performance. And in August 2013, the band made it to the big screen with One Direction: This Is Us, a 3D film about their rise to fame.
Now everyone is waiting eagerly for One Direction’s third studio album, Midnight Memories, due out on 25 November. Here’s hoping the guys knock our socks off again.
