It's been years. not really, but it's been getting quite busy on my end over here. I'm currently in Week 9 of the quarter, and a lot is happening. We've got a dance concert coming up next week, two huge papers due, dance concert auditions on Wednesday, more dance auditions on Saturday, and just a whole lot of dancing and writing and studying.
With that said, I'm gonna go ahead and post an album review I wrote for my HC club a long time ago, that ended up never getting published on the internet... SO!
Here you go: Long Overdue, Album Review on One Direction's semi-new album Midnight Memories.
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| Photo Credit: http://3888.voxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/One-Direction-Midnight-Memories-Single.jpg |
Biggest boy band
of the year has done it again! On November 25th, One Direction released their third album, Midnight Memories. To promote Midnight
Memories, the guys of 1D hosted a 7 hour long live stream two days prior to the release date, where dedicated
fans all around the world tuned in to watch the guys attempt to break world
records, answer fan Q & A’s, and perform songs from their albums. The album
that has been highly anticipated by fans is finally out, and whether you like
1D or not, Midnight Memories is a
record that you might actually want to consider giving a listen!
For starters,
it’s a great coming of age album— they have definitely come a long way from hit
single “What Makes You Beautiful.” Struggling to maintain a clean sound for
their younger listeners while still embracing the idea of growing up, they
manage to find a nice blend to satisfy all their listeners, no matter what age.
If you listen to the radio at all, then
you probably have already heard their two latest singles “Best Song Ever” and
“Story of My Life.” Both singles are contrastingly different from each other,
as “Best Song Ever” is still very reminiscent of their former pop albums with
it’s sugary sweet catchy chorus that’s bound to get stuck in your head. Only a
few other songs on the album like “Why Don’t We Go There” and “Little White Lies” have their familiar pop sound that we’ve all grown to know and love. Their recent single,
“Story of my Life”, is an accurate preview of what's new in their album, with prominent
influences from bands Mumford and Suns and The Lumineers. If you like that
acoustic folk pop, then tracks “Through the Dark” and “Happily” are your go-to
songs. Similar, to “Story of My Life”, they’re the kind of songs that would be
in the soundtrack of a teen indie flick. You’ll feel “infinite” just by
listening to them (Yes, I just quoted Perks of Being a Wallflower. I went there.)
The album takes a
surprising edgy turn, with songs like “Alive” and “Little Black Dress” paying
tribute to classic 80’s rock. The guys get cheeky with their double entendre
lyrics, and even come about 99% close to swearing in some of their songs, including
album titled song & single “Midnight Memories”: “ People talk shh but we don’t listen.” Although older listeners may not have a
problem with it, I don’t think boss Simon Cowell is ready for the boy band to
be swearing in songs just yet (sigh).
Besides
the different music styling’s, the guys got to personalize the album with their
own words. Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis
Tomlinson all contributed to the album as co-writers to 15 out of 18 tracks. Though
they still have professional writers by their side, you can really hear the guys
pour their personal stories into songs, especially in “Don’t Forget Where You
Belong” where their lyrics reflect their on-the-road tour lifestyle:
“Living out the cases/Packing up and
taking off/
Made
a lot of changes/But not forgetting who I was.”
This
was a huge step for the guys as they were finally able to get a bit of a voice
in the music they’re putting out. A big cheers to the surprising Louis
Tomlinson, who was one of the biggest contributors to the album, co-writing 12
out of the 18 songs.
Overall, It’s
refreshing to hear the band attempt to showcase a level of maturity in their sound while
still maintaining a young “live life to the fullest” attitude in their lyrics. Although
I miss the bright bubbly pop sound that the boy band is known for, it’s clear
that the guys of One Direction want the world to know that they’re growing up, and they want you to grow up with them. Though it's a bit drastic of a change in music stylings, it's definitely an album you should give a chance. The album was a big risk
to take, and they did it successfully.
Unmentioned
songs that you should listen to: "Better than words", “Half a Heart”, “Strong”, and
“Diana”.
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