Take Me Home, This Is Us and Midnight Memories (2012–present) One Direction at red carpet of the Logie Awards of 2012 in Melbourne One Directions second studio album, Take Me Home, was released in November 2012.[60] Take Me Home was written in groups and has an average of just under five songwriters per track. Savan Kotecha, Rami Yacoub, and Carl Falk, who composed One Directions hits What Makes You Beautiful and One Thing, spent six months in Stockholm developing songs for the album, and were able to shape melodies around their tones.[61] One Direction began recording the album in May 2012, in Stockholm at Kinglet Studios.[62][63][64] Take Me Home garnered mixed reviews from music critics. There was praise for its quality of production, while it was criticised for its generic, rushed nature.[65][66][67][68][69][70] Its lead single, Live While Were Young, released in September 2012, reached the top ten in almost every country it charted in and recorded the highest one-week opening sales figure for a song by a non-US artist in the US.[71] The album and its second single, Little Things, both debuted at number one in the UK simultaneously; something that One Direction became the youngest act in British chart history to achieve.[72] Take Me Home sold 540,000 copies in its first week in the US, debuted atop the Billboard 200, and topped the charts in more than thirty-four other countries.[73][74] Additionally, Up All Night and Take Me Home were the number three and number four best-selling albums of 2012 globally, selling 4.5 million and 4.4 million units, respectively.[75] One Direction performed Little Things at the 2012 Royal Variety Performance in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II, and headlined a sold-out show at New York Citys Madison Square Garden on 3 December 2012.[76][77] In February 2013, One Direction released a cover version of One Way or Another and Teenage Kicks, One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks), as the 2013 Comic Relief single.[78] In addition, the Official Charts Company revealed that One Direction have sold 2,425,000 records in the UK by February 2013.[79] One Direction embarked on their second concert tour in February 2013, the Take Me Home Tour.[80] The concert tour consists of over 100 shows in Europe, North America and Australasia. Ticket sales reached 300,000 within a day of release in the UK and Ireland, which included a six-date sell-out at Londons The O2 Arena.[81] In the Australian and New Zealand markets, tickets grossed US$15.7 million, with all 190,000 tickets being sold for the eighteen shows to be held.[82] One Direction: This Is Us, a 3D film about the group directed by Morgan Spurlock and produced by Spurlock, Ben Winston, Adam Milano and Simon Cowell, was released by TriStar Pictures on 30 August 2013.[83] The film features the song Best Song Ever, released on 22 July 2013. Best Song Ever is slated to serve as the lead single of the groups upcoming third studio album.[84][85] Their first stadium tour the Where We Are Tour is set to commence in April 2014. The boyband also announced that they will donate £200,000 of the tours ticket sales to Stand Up to Cancer charity.[86] On 6 September 2013, Styles tweeted that the third studio album will be released on 25 November 2013 and will be titled Midnight Memories.[87] The album was described by the band as edgier and as having a slightly rockier tone than their previous efforts.[88] Story of My Life was revealed as the second single of the album with each member posting a photo from their childhood. Afterwards, the cover of the single was posted on the One Direction account.[89][90] On 11 October 2013, One Direction revealed the cover and track listing for the album with the track listing being revealed through a #MidnightMemoriesTrackQuiz on Twitter.[91][92] It was confirmed that the band will perform in both the American and British X Factor in order to promote their upcoming album.[93]
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 08:13:13 +0000