One Direction’s success makes for an interesting case
study. This is a boyband whose branding
is more important than their music, who have escaped the X Factor bubble and
risen to fame through sell out tours, a film and legions of crazily obsessed
fans. They may have had nine top ten
singles in the UK across their three albums, but for the most part their music
is an afterthought.
Yet the boys have had greater involvement in the songwriting
for ‘Midnight Memories’ which may lead you to think they’re taking the music a
little more seriously. Unfortunately, serious
equals dull.
The songs fit neatly into two camps. Firstly are the upbeat pop-rock tracks like lead
single Best Song Ever, the very 80s Diana, the title track (ripped from I Love Rock and Roll) and Little Black Dress. These certainly fit the “edgier”, “rockier”
tone they’ve been striving for, but lead the band down a void somewhere between
pop and rock. They’re clearly trying to ‘mature’
and move away from the former, but they simply don’t have the cool to pull off
the latter. The rest of the album
comprises Mumford-esque power ballads, such as current single Story Of My Life and Through The Dark which both feature
plenty of acoustic strumming. At times
the songs do have a certain charm – the typical boyband fair of You & I (with its falsetto note
leading into the final chorus) and the Ryan Tedder (of One Republic) penned Right Now. Mostly, though, ‘Midnight Memories’ is
utterly lacking in thrills.
Lyrically, the boys do their best to inject some excitement,
with plenty of (now customary) innuendo aimed squarely at teenage girls. “Said I had a dirty mouth, but she kissed me
like she meant it”, they sing on Best
Song Ever, whilst on the Gary Lightbody (yawn) penned Something Great
they croon “You say we’re better off together in our bed”. Apparently this is what your younger sister
is getting off on these days.
It takes until song thirteen to reach a decent
pop track: Little White Lies. Written by should-be-popstar Ed Drewett, it
takes a leaf out of Taylor Swift’s book with its dub-step infused pop and super
catchy chorus. If the boys released a
whole album like this then they’d likely deserve their success.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what drivel One Direction
release as it’ll shoot up the charts regardless – the brand is simply too
strong. Already ‘Midnight Memories’ is
set to be the biggest selling album of the year. Life’s just not fair.
2/5
Gizzle's Choice:
* Diana
* Right Now
* Little White Lies
Listen: 'Midnight Memories' is available now.