Zayn Malik, 19; Harry Styles, 18; Louis Tomlinson, 20; Niall Horan, 19; and Liam Payne,19 have won the sweepstakes of pop. For no great reason, but maybe just the best reason on earth, they are the biggest boy band in the world. The great reason? They are lucky. And who can fight with good luck?
Formed after Simon Cowell recommended the four X Factor Contenders pool their resources, they parlayed a hit song "What Makes You Beautiful" and an opening slot on the Big Time Rush tour this year into megastardom in the US. 8 months after their first album was released. here comes the follow up and it is an amazing piece of pop confection. A professional hit job on teen girls wallets. Maybe the third album will bomb, but this is their With The Beatles. A touch older, a little better.
Yup, the boys have already did the rookie mistake, following in Justin Bieber's footsteps and comparing themselves to the Beatles. No, they aren't the Beatles. Musically, they don't have much more going for them then close harmonies and a smart manager. But do they need much more?
According to Wikipedia ".Dee Demirbag, responsible for international artists and repertoire at music publisher, BMG Rights Management in Scandinavia, said: "Breaking a boy band in the U.S. is about as big as it gets in the music industry, so you can imagine the competition to get cuts on the next One Direction album is immense". So the band went to Stockholm along with Carl Falk, the man behind the fist album and Dr. Luke, the huge pop producer. And they created the Frankenstein's monster of boy band albums, Take Me Back.
If you expected 1D to fall on their face, you didn't read the last paragraph closely enough. The album has two A team tracks from one Ed Sheeran, the best of which, the acoustic "Over Again", is the best track on the album. Plus first rate material from Rami Yacoub (remember him? Maybe you remember "…Baby One More time") and whose Live Like Your Young" leads off the album with the infamous Clash steal, Shellback (think Pink, Britney and, ahem, "Moves Like A Jagger") and how about… OK, let's make it simple, half UK singer-songwriters and half Swedish pop machines.
To their credit, while non of 1D excel here, the band doesn't disappear in its own album. They are a hit not just because they are cute boys who can sing and dance but also because they do have personality, they are able to raise themselves above the anonymous puppets they appear to be. If ever a band needed a Monkees like sitcom, 1D do. They feel like a unit better together. Cowell was right. The album is filled with potential hits and minimal filler, all electro pop, ballads and tween bopping faux-rock. But 1D is not the star of the album, Rami Yacoub is. He produces half of the album and is now officially the name to drop.
Mary Magpie, you have my permission to enjoy.
Grade: C+