Take Me Home (One Direction album)
The album's lead single, "Live While We're Young", released on 28 September 2012, peaked inside 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-U.S. artist.Savan Kotecha, Yacoub, and Falk, who composed One Direction's hits, "What Makes You Beautiful" and "One Thing", spent six months in Stockholm, Sweden, developing songs for the album, and were able to shape melodies around their tones.[9] The album cover artwork, revealed on 30 August 2012, features the group surrounding a traditional British K6 red telephone box, a familiar sight on the streets of the UK.[20] Alexis Petridis, a music journalist, interpreted its signature sound as a "peppy, synth-bolstered take on early-80s new-wave pop, heavy on clipped rhythms and chugging guitars," which, he said, is at least an improvement on the substitute R&B "that was once the grim lot of the boyband.[8] Composer Julian Bunetta, who worked on three of Take Me Home's tracks, also tried to place emphasis on the sound of each member: "The fans can tell the difference, but we wanted to make sure that when it came on the radio, the average person knew that it must be One Direction, because it's five guys."[8] Likewise, Caramanica noted that the album's songs produced by Bunetta "tend to start out with more breathing room, giving the guys a chance to show off vocally".[32] The group and the album's lead single were featured in a Pepsi television commercial for the United States, which premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company network on 10 October 2012.[36] Additional live appearances include at the Royal Variety Performance, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II,[37] the Bambi Awards,[38] and a headlining sold-out show at New York City's Madison Square Garden.[55] Matt Collar from AllMusic described it as an "immediately catchy mix of dancey pop that maximizes the group's shared lead-vocal approach and peppy, upbeat image."[16] Kate Wills from The Independent praised the uptempo material while defining the ballads as jarring, a notion shared by John Dolan of Rolling Stone.[56] Chris Richards of The Washington Post wrote that "the group's best songs are dazzlingly efficient" and "the boy band's sophomore album is pop candy in the purest sense—sweet, colorful, and unlike so many releases aimed at ticklish tweenage hearts, consistent".[57] Sam Lansky of Idolator commented that the album is "some of the purest pop of the year" and "is actually pretty great—certainly better than it needs to be" while adding that "the hooks are instantaneous and keenly crafted" and "the production is '80s-inflected and intermittently rock-dappled"."[64] In a mixed review, The New York Times contributor Jon Caramanica appreciated the album's sonic palette, but dismissed its lyricism as narrow and tedious, and Sheeran's contributions as "unusually lumpy in the hands of such a polished group"."[17] While he commended the album for its "variable quality", Alexis Petridis for The Guardian felt the record would not be able to transcend its target market, a core audience aged approximately 8 to 12 and female: "To anyone else, the mystery of One Direction's success—or at least the sheer scale of it—remains as opaque as ever."[18] The latter view was shared by Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star: "Unless you're in the target demographic or are, perhaps, a mom who lived through the same thing in her youth, there's no point in even going near this record, of course, but the rest of us were never meant to in the first place."[65] Writing for HitFix, Melinda Newman maintained that the album "masterfully hits its target", and concluded as follows: "I'm so far out of the One Dimension demographic, I practically need a GPS to find it.[31] The album and its second single, "Little Things", both debuted simultaneously at number one in the UK on 18 November 2012, making One Direction the youngest act in British chart history to achieve the feat.
Studio albumOne DirectionVirginia BeachSurreyteen poppop rockColumbiaProducerCirkutDr. LukeCarl FalkJake GoslingSteve RobsonShellbackRami YacoubUp All NightMidnight MemoriesSinglesLive While We're YoungLittle ThingsKiss Youboy bandSyco MusicColumbia RecordsSavan KotechaWhat Makes You BeautifulOne ThingStockholmmelodiesmetronomichomogeneouslead vocalsunrequited lovemusic criticsInternational Federation of the Phonographic IndustryBillboard 200Danity KaneWelcome to the Dollhouseself-titled debutNielsen SoundScanUK Singles ChartMadison Square GardenTake Me Home TourSwedenNiall HoranTom FletcherEd SheeranThe IndependentSimon CowellDee DemirbagBMG Rights ManagementSyco RecordsMax MartinKristian LundinUp All Night TourMTV Newsred telephone boxthe ClashShould I Stay or Should I Godouble entendressexual intercourseAuto-TuneThe New York TimesIdolatorAlexis Petridisnew-waveWe Will Rock YouBackstreet Boysaccompanying concert tourBillboard Hot 100Digital SongsElton JohnCandle in the Wind 1997Maroon 5PayphoneThe Black Eyed PeasBoom Boom PowdigitallyFox Broadcasting CompanyiTunesThe X Factor USAThe X Factor UKThe Today ShowChildren in Need 2012Royal Variety PerformanceElizabeth IIBambi AwardsO2 ArenaLiam Payne2012 BRIT AwardsAustralasiaMetacriticAllMusicBillboardDaily ExpressEntertainment WeeklyThe GuardianPopMattersRolling StonenormalisedaverageBBC MusicThe Washington PostDaily MirrorHuffPostDigital SpyZayn MalikBen RaynerToronto StarHitFixChicago TribuneUK Albums ChartBritish Phonographic IndustryIrish Albums ChartIrish Recorded Music AssociationFederation of the Italian Music IndustrySwedish Recording Industry AssociationARIA ChartAustralian Recording Industry AssociationN'SyncCelebrityTaylor SwiftMumford & SonsJustin BieberRecording Industry Association of AmericaRascal Flatts