"My hands, your hands
Tied up like two ships
Drifting, weightless
Waves try to break it
I'd do anything to save it
Why is it so hard to say it?
My heart, you heart
Sit tight like book ends
Pages between us
Written with no end
So many words we're not saying
Don't wanna wait 'till its gone
You make me strong
I'm sorry if I say "I need you"
But I don't care
I'm not scared of love
'Cause when I'm not with you I'm weaker,
Is that so wrong
Is it so wrong that you make me strong?"
(Strong, One Direction)
One Direction is the biggest boyband of all time with their thousand million fans from every corner of the world. Who would have known that the boys who lost The X Factor ,will rule the music world for the next few decades?
Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik - they auditioned for The X Factor, a reality show of UK individually. They all were teenagers of 15-16 back then, in 2010. During the show they all failed to progress in the "Boys" category but there was Simon Cowell and Nicole Scherzinger! They decided to put the boys in a group to qualify them for "groups" category. And thus One Direction was formed. It was Harry who gave the name One Direction. In that show they came up with "Torn" as their first performance together. For knowing each other and practice they got less than 2 weeks! Within the first four weeks of the live shows, there were their final act in the competition. On the final day, they got the highest vote but they lost the show for securing lesser marks. They stood 3rd but they definitely won the heart of the country.
"Forever young, I wanna be forever young
Do you really wanna live forever or never
Forever young"
(Forever young, One Direction)
Immediately after the final, their song "Forever young" was leaked into the internet which would have been released if they had won The X Factor. Their fans went crazy from then. After a short duration they signed with Cowell's company Syco Records to work on their first album produced by RedOne. It was 2011. 'One Direction: Forever Young (Our Official X Factor Story)' - their book was published by HarperCollins in February that year and this book topped The Sunday Times Bestseller! The same month, the boy band and other contestants from the series participated in the X Factor Live Tour. During the tour, the group performed in front of 500,000 people throughout the UK. After the tour concluded in April, they continued working on their debut album.
"Baby you light up my world like nobody else
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
Baby you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell
You don't know.. you don't know you're beautiful"
(What Makes You Beautiful, One Direction)
On 10th September, 2011 they released their first ever music video "What Makes You Beatiful" and it was a hit. On 18th November, 2011, they released their first album "Up All Night" in Ireland and UK. It contained standard 13 tracks to soveinir edition upto 18 tracks. The album was hugely successful worldwide and established One Direction as the definitive boy band of the 2010. Up All Night was the third best selling album of 2012 globally, selling 4.5 million copies and reaching #1 in sixteen countries. The album debuted at number on the US Billboard 200, selling 176,000 copies in its first week. It became the first U.K group to debut at #1 in the United States with their debut album, a Guinness World Record the band still holds. The album debuted at #2 on the United Kingdom charts on 27 November 2011, selling 138,631 copies, and becoming the UK's fastest-selling debut album of 2011, as well as the fastest selling album of 2011 to miss out on number one. Up All Night also became the fifteenth best selling album in the UK of 2012, with sales of 372,000 copies. It was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry on 15 February 2013. It was the tenth biggest selling album in 2011 in Ireland. In Australia, the album topped the ARIA Charts for five weeks, and was certified 5 times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association. In New Zealand, the album topped New Zealand Albums Chart for three weeks, and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. The album debuted at #1 on the Canadian Albums Chart, which made One Direction the first U.K group in Canadian history to enter at number one with their debut album, and the first international group to debut at #1 in the Nielsen SoundScan era (post 1991) with a debut album. The album has been certified double platinum by Music Canada.
Upon One Direction's arrival in the US in February 2012, the group embarked on a radio promotion spree, as well as their first North American concert tour as an opening act for Big Time Rush, opening 16 shows after they had completed the first leg of the Up All Night Tour. That month, they announced that an Oceania leg had been added to the tour. They made their first US television appearance on The Today Show, at the Rockefeller Center; an estimated 15,000 fans descended on the plaza. With their 1st album they won the hearts of global teenagers, they told the words every girl wanted to hear! It was only the start, there was more!
In August 2012, the group's record sales exceeded 8 million singles, 3 million albums, and 1 million DVDs, and they performed "What Makes You Beautiful" at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London, which represented the handover to Rio de Janeiro as the host of the 2016 Summer Olympics. One Direction were the biggest winners of the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards winning their three nominations on 6 September 2012, including Best New Artist.
In 2012, they released their second album 'Take me Home' with the leading single "Live While We're Young". And again, they topped in more than 35 countries. There was "Little Things" that became their second "Number One Single" in the UK. Up All Night and Take Me Home were the number three and number four best-selling albums of 2012 globally, each album selling over 4.4 million units worldwide.
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 City's Madison Square Garden on 3 December 2012. In their Take Me Home Tour of 2012-13, they performed nearly in 123 shows in Europe, North America, Oceania and Asia and there was six-date sell-out at the O2 Arena in London! The whole world went crazy over their magical voice, charm and cuteness....
"And we danced all night to the best song ever
We knew evey line now I can't remember
How it goes but I know that I won't forget her
'Cause we danced all night to the best song ever"
(Best Song Ever, One Direction)
"Best Song Ever", the leading single of the group's third studio album 'Midnight Memories', was released on 22 July 2013. The song is their highest charting single in the US to date, reaching number two. It broke the 24-Hour Vevo Record with 10.9 million views on YouTube. This was the second time the band held the record with "Live While We're Young" attaining 8.2 million views in 2012. The same year they released 'This is Us' - a concert film and documentary on their lives when touring and it was a box office success, topping the UK and US box offices and grossing over $60 million worldwide, and became the fourth highest-grossing concert movie!
In 2013, they announced their first all-stadium tour, the Where We Are Tour. Tickets for the tour sold out in minutes and more shows were added due to "overwhelming demand." Midnight Memories was released globally on 25 November 2013. It debuted at number one in the UK and in the US, making them the first group to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 with its first three albums, and the second to reach the top after The Monkees in 1967. On 23 November 2013, in support of Midnight Memories, the band participated in "1D Day", a day dedicated to One Direction fans (they are called Directioners). The day constituted of a landmark 7.5-hour socially interactive YouTube live-stream featuring live band performances and celebrity guests. Despite being released at the year's end, it was the best-selling album worldwide in 2013 with 4 million copies sold globally.1D was making history everyday with their Thousand Millions of crazy and dedicated fans. On December of the same year with 'This Is Us', their another concert film were sold nearly 270,000 copies in the UK within three days of its release, beating the record previously set by Michael Jackson's 'This Is It' in 2010 by 10,000 copies. 1D was named among the Top Global artists of 2013 by the IFPI because of strong digital downloads, physical albums, on-demand streams, and music videos.
In 2014, they announced 'Where We Are Tour' with 69 shows. It was with an average of 49,848 fans per show, the tour grossed over $290 million, becoming the highest-grossing concert tour in 2014, the 15th highest-grossing concert tour of all time, and the highest-grossing tour of all time by a vocal group. Then they released their 3rd book 'One Direction: Where We Are: Our Band, Our Story: 100% Official'. Maybe I forgot to tell you, 'Dare to Dream: Life as One Direction' was their 2nd book. At the last of 2014 they released their 4th album 'Four' which topped the Billboard 200 and the UK Album Chart. It debuted at #1 in 18 countries, selling 3.2 million copies. It became the top charted album on iTunes in 67 countries. One Direction became the only group in the 58-year history of the Billboard 200 albums chart to have their first four albums debut at #1.
In February 2015, the group embarked on their 4th world tour and second all-stadium tour, the On the Road Again Tour, grossing $208 million, making it the second highest-grossing tour of 2015.
"You and me got a whole lotta history
We could be the greatest team that the world has ever seen
You and me got a whole lotta history
So don't let me go, we can make some more, we can live forever"
(History, One Direction)
On 25th March, 2015 Zayn left the group. He was dealing with some mental and health issues. Directioners were shattered but they respected his decision. There were many controversies over why he left, if it was a right decision or wrong, if he was forced to leave or there was something they were hiding but the fact is that we cannot go back to the time and change things. And it was definitely not the end of One Direction, the four continued the band.
The group made their first official public appearance as a four-piece on The Late Late Show with James Corden on 14 May, 2015. This year they released 'Made in the A.M.' with the leading single Drag Me Down. It was the sixth-best selling album of 2015. At the 2015 American Music Awards on 22 November One Direction won the award for Artist of the Year for two successive years. Drag Me Down topped the charts in multiple countries including Ireland and the UK, while charting third in the United States. Another single of that album, Perfect reached the Billboard top ten, making it the group's second consecutive (after "Drag Me Down") and fifth overall top ten hit, breaking The Beatles' record for the most top ten Hot 100 debuts among bands.
It was August, 2015.1D announced their hiatus. They last performed as a group on The X Factor (UK)'s 2015 grand final episode on 13 December 2015. They said that they are taking a break and this is not that they are splitting up. The band shared a warm embrace, providing the most poignant moment of the evening — or of life so far, depending on how seriously you take 1D. Their last televised performance as a group, before their hiatus, was on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on 31 December 2015.
"All my life
You stood by me
When noone else was ever behind me
And all these lights
They can't blind me
With your love , nobody can drag me down"
(Drag Me Down, One Direction)
At the 2017 Brit Awards, One Direction won the Video of the Year award for their song "History". Liam accepted the award on the behalf of the band.
Their achievements include 6 Brit Awards, 4 MTV Video Music Awards, 11 MTV Europe Music Awards, 7 American Music Awards (including Artist of the Year in 2014 and 2015), and 19 Teen Choice Awards out of 19 nominations and many others. According to Nick Gatfield, the chairman and chief executive of Sony Music Entertainment UK, One Direction represented a $50 million business empire by June 2012. They were proclaimed 2012's "Top New Artist" by Billboard. According to the Sunday Times Rich List, by April 2013, they were the second-wealthiest musicians in the UK under 30 years of age. In 2014, Forbes listed them the second-highest earning celebrities under 30, with the group earning an estimated $75 million from June 2013 to June 2014. In June 2015, Forbes listed them the fourth highest earning celebrities in the world.
"Right now
I wish you were here with me
'Cause right now
Everything is new to me
You know I can't fight the feeling
And every night I feel it
Right now
I wish you were here with me"
(Right Now, One Direction)
No matter if their hiatus will ever end or not, 1D and Directioners are still on fire and they will. After 4 years of the heartbreaking announcement, Directioners still rule the Twitter, they actually never forgot to trend something new about 1D or the boys. They support each other, they love each other, they cry together, they slay together and this is something that One Direction taught - to stay strong, together as a family. Maybe One Direction will never come back or maybe they will but Directioners and their love for 1D will definitely remain unchanged. One Direction is not just an ordinary band, this is an emotion. If you have ever been a part of this family, you may know the feeling. It feels like being personally attached to not only the boys but other Directioners too. Words are not enough to explain 1D actually, it is something "better than words, more than a feeling". Though all the boys are on their successfull solo career but they never left 1D. When the madness and craziness change into love, you will never understand. Once you enter into the fandom, there is no exit! Maybe the records they made, will be broken and new will be made, but 1D will remain in the heart of every Directioner because "Nothing can come between" 1D and their girls!
"I want to write you a song
One to make your heart remember me
So anytime I'm gone
You can listen to my voice and sing along
I want to write you a song"
(I Want to Write You a Song, One Direction)
(I Want to Write You a Song, One Direction)
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