Midnight Memories is the third studio album by the British-Irish boy band One Direction, released on 25 November 2013 by Columbia Records, Syco Music and Sony Music. The album was described as having a "slightly rockier tone" than their previous efforts.
Background
One Direction began working on their third studio album whilst embarking on their second international 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, which subsequently led fans to wrongly assume that the album title would be named Where We Are. Member Louis Tomlinson proclaimed that the album would have a "rockier" sound to it than the band's previous releases. The official title of the album was announced on 6 September 2013, starting with Zayn Malik tweeting a teaser video of Harry Styles spelling out the word "Mid" out of a pile of alphabet cards on the floor, followed by a full video posted on the band's Instagram account later on, revealing the title, Midnight Memories. [1]
Singles
- Best Song Ever was released as the lead single on July 22, 2013. The music video was directed by Ben Winston.
- Story of My Life was the second single from the album and was released on Ocotober 28, 2013. The music video was directed by Ben Winston.
- Midnight Memories was announced and released as the third single from the album on January 24, 2014. The music video was directed by Ben Winston.
- You & I was released as the fourth and final single from the album on April 18, 2014. The music video was directed by Ben Winston.
Commercial Performance
The album debuted at number one on the Irish Albums Chart and number two on the Dutch Albums Chart. On 29 November 2013, it was announced that it had become the fastest-selling album of 2013 in the UK, with 187,660 copies sold in four days. It was revealed on 1 December 2013, that the album had sold in excess of 237,000 copies in its first week in the UK, beating Gary Barlow's Since I Saw You Last, and becoming the fastest selling album in the UK since Michael Bublé's Christmas in December 2011, as well as outperforming One Direction's two previous albums Up All Night (2011) and Take Me Home (2012). It became the best-selling album of 2013 in the UK with 685,000 copies sold for the year. [2]
Track List
| Standard Edition | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
| 1. | "Best Song Ever" | Wayne Hector, John Ryan, Haille Walker, Julian Bunetta, Ed Drewett | Bunetta, Ryan, Matt Rad | 3:20 |
| 2. | "Story of My Life" | Jamie Scott, Ryan, Bunetta, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles | Bunetta, Ryan | 4:05 |
| 3. | "Diana" | Ryan, Bunetta, Scott, Tomlinson, Payne | Bunetta, Ryan | 3:05 |
| 4. | "Midnight Memories" | Bunetta, Scott, Ryan, Tomlinson, Payne | Bunetta, Ryan | 2:56 |
| 5. | "You & I" | Hector , Mich Hansen, Bunetta, Harry Johnson, Joseph Belmaati, Alistair Tennant | Bunetta, Ryan | 3:57 |
| 6. | "Don't Forget Where You Belong" | Horan, Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter | Jones, Poynter, Fletcher | 4:01 |
| 7. | "Strong" | Tomlinson, Ryan, Scott, Bunetta | Bunetta, Ryan | 3:04 |
| 8. | "Happily" | Styles, Savan Kotecha, Carl Falk | Falk,
Krstian Lundin |
2:55 |
| 9. | "Right Now" | Ryan Tedder, Payne, Styles, Tomlinson | Tedder, Jake Gosling | 3:20 |
| 10. | "Little Black Dress" | Payne, Tomlinson, Bunetta, Ryan, John Theodore Geiger | Bunetta, Ryan, Geiger | 2:37 |
| 11. | "Through The Dark" | Payne, Tomlinson, Scott, Toby Smith | Scott, Smith, Ryan | 3:41 |
| 12. | "Something Great" | Styles, Jacknife Lee, Gary Lightbody | Jacknife Lee | 3:56 |
| 13. | "Little White Lies" | Payne, Tomlinson, Bunetta, Drewett, Ryan, Hector | Bunetta, Ryan | 3:17 |
| 14. | "Better Than Words" | Payne, Tomlinson , Bunetta, Ryan, Scott | Bunetta, Ryan | 3:27 |
| Deluxe Edition | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
| 15. | "Why Don't We Go There" | Hector, Johnson, Kelly, Robson, Horan, Malik, Payne, Styles, Tomlinson | Robson | 2:54 |
| 16. | "Does He Know " | Bunetta, Ryan, Scott, Tomlinson, Payne | Bunetta, Ryan, Scott | 2:59 |
| 17. | "Alive" | Bunetta, Ryan, Scott, Tomlinson | Rad, Bunetta, Ryan | 2:41 |
| 18. | "Half A Heart" | Lindy Robbins, Drewett, Robson | Robson | 3:08 |
References
- ↑ wikipedia.org - Background
- ↑ wikipedia.org - Commercial performance