These days, I've been appreciating Billy Joel's music. I don't know why, but I love 'Uptown Girl' and 'We Didn't Start the Fire'. They're bangers. Old bangers, but I don't discriminate by age when it comes to amazing songs.
Take One Direction. It'll be a decade on November 17th since they released Four, and yet I still stream that album so much it's not funny. It's been more than a decade since they released Up All Night, and I still listen to that album.
For older songs, it'll have to be Michael Jackson. My dad is a massive fan, or at least was a massive fan when Michael was alive, so I practically grew up hearing 'Smooth Criminal' and 'Black or White' and even 'They Don't Care About Us'. I also really love Eminem songs, though he's still alive and making songs, so I don't know if he counts.
Old songs are just bops. 'Teenage Dirtbag' by Wheatus is quite old, and yet I love to stream it at least two or three times a day. Any Nirvana song to me is great, particularly 'Smells like Teen Spirit' or 'Come As You Are'. I also love one of the covers they did on their 1994 MTV Unplugged in New York album: 'The Man Who Sold The World'. It's originally a David Bowie song, but trust me. The Nirvana version is so good, I didn't even know it was possible to make such good music.
What I want to say is that music depends on taste. My little preteen self in 2020 was obsessed with French and American rap, preferably those really dirty songs where they talk about women like we're trophies to be put in a showcase. Once I realised that lyrics actually did matter when it came to songs, I completely stopped listening to those songs. I'm not even kidding. Overnight, I stopped.
Then for a while my music taste was a bit random. Any song that I liked, I put on my playlist. I listened to a lot of electronic music for a year or two, particularly Vicetone. They're this duo that makes electronic music. If you don't know them, I do recommend their music, especially 'Aftermath'.
And then I heard about Harry Styles going on tour. This was back in 2021, okay? I didn't even like his music, because I thought 'Watermelon Sugar' was basic. It isn't, and now I see that. But I thought I was meant to be on this Earth to wage war on boy bands, so don't judge me. I started listening to Fine Line, and I never stopped. I didn't become a massive fan overnight, but I did really like his music.
However, I still had trauma from being taught 'What Makes You Beautiful' in Year 1 (which is preschool in the American system), and I didn't even know that Harry Styles used to be in One Direction, so we are not yet in my Directioner phase of life.
When Harry released Harry's House, I ran onto Spotify. 20th May 2022. I'll never forget it. Harry's House remains one of my favourite albums ever, and I have no doubt that it will stay that way for the rest of my life. Every song on there, I know by heart. I can even recite the order in which the songs are arranged on the album from memory. That's how much I love the album.
But I still hated One Direction.
And then my toxic ex-best friend did the one thing that I'll like her for. She introduced me to One Direction's real songs.
Not that I hate 'What Makes You Beautiful', but it's terribly overplayed and honestly not that great. Even the boys said that they didn't really like it anymore, not after how famous it became. From Up All Night, I like 'Stole My Heart' and 'One Thing'. That's probably it. 'Gotta Be You' is tolerable, but still. My point is, I don't consider that to be really One Direction music, because this was mostly producers just making them sing really polished songs that sounded like a million other songs.
Take Me Home is where it gets interesting. I love 'Live While We're Young', 'Kiss You', 'Heart Attack', 'Little Things' (that's such a good song, if someone is particularly interested in lyrics) and probably the rest of the album. It's still very pop, contrasting in their later pop-rock music, but it's a great album, and already is more cool-sounding than Up All Night.
Then Midnight Memories. That album will probably always and forever have my rock self hooked, because there are so many good songs. Of course, there's the famous ones, like 'Best Song Ever', 'You & I' and 'Story of My Life'. But I love the less famous songs, like 'Better Than Words' or even 'Diana'. Midnight Memories also resulted in the highest grossing tour that 1D ever did, so that's pretty good.
And Four. Where can I start? This album is my all-time favourite album from them. 'Steal My Girl' is such a good song, and so is 'Night Changes', but there are so many others. 'Where Do Broken Hearts Go' is a lovely song, and I love 'Girl Almighty', 'Act My Age', 'Clouds', 'Fool's Good', 'Fireproof' and honestly all the other songs. This is, in my opinion, my favourite album.
Made in the A.M. is honestly a tougher one. Because Zayn isn't in that album, I automatically love it a little bit less. Don't get me wrong, 'Drag Me Down' was the first 1D song that I loved. 'Olivia', 'History' and 'If I Could Fly' are all beautiful songs. But I just don't really listen to it, because in my opinion it's not the same as when Zayn was in the band. It feels wrong to listen to a One Direction album without one of the members. And I'll feel the same if the boys release an album without Liam now.
If you aren't a Directioner because of 'What Makes You Beautiful', my advice is to go listen to Midnight Memories or Four, because both of those albums will convince you that One Direction isn't just like any other boy band. If you like typical pop, Up All Night or Take Me Home is perfect for you, but personally I would prefer Take Me Home. Made in the A.M. is for people who like more rock-sounding songs. This is, in my opinion, a more adult album because the boys were older and making more striking and different music, compared to when they first started. If you're looking for artistry, this is it.
Thanks for listening to my rant about 1D,
Alex <3
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