It’s May, and while everyone else in the Class of 2020 is graduating, school is just starting for those of us in Waseda. I never would have imagined that my last semester of university would actually be online, and that I would be taking my classes in Taipei, but no one could have predicted how badly COVID-19 would wreck the world. I contemplated taking a gap semester, so that I would be able to finish my schooling on campus, but there’s really nothing for me to do at home. We received a 3 month long spring break starting from February, and all I did was scroll through TikTok, play The Sims 4, and listen to One Direction.
I didn’t relive my entire One Direction phase, per se, but I did come pretty close. And TikTok’s incredibly scary and accurate algorithm didn’t help at all. I would scroll through my page and so many videos about One Direction would pop up, that I truly felt like it was 2012 again. All the rumours about a potential One Direction reunion, and the fact that they have really good songs, kept me listening to their music. So I thought that for an easy, digestible, relaxing, first article of the semester, I would talk about my favourite One Direction songs. But if I had free reign, I’m not sure when this article would end, so I decided to only pick a top song from each of their albums. (The songs are in the hyperlink!)
Up All Night – Save You Tonight
To me, this album reminds me of summer of 2012. Begging my mum to buy those trashy magazines for me, just so I could have the posters that came with them. One of my walls was completely covered with One Direction posters, sprinkled with the occasional Taylor Swift or Selena Gomez poster. It reminds me of me and my friend sitting in front of her computer, watching lyric videos, and singing along to One Direction songs.
Take Me Home – They Don’t Know About Us
I own the Yearbook Edition, and I just want to say that this entire album was pretty incredible. I had already been a fan, so I remember impatiently waiting for each music video to be released. This was when it was still slightly embarrassing to be a “Directioner,” but I stuck to my guns and didn’t let anyone tell me anything, because my music taste was already the most random selection of genres, so adding One Direction to the list didn’t make much of a difference.
Midnight Memories – Better Than Words
I remember listening to this album for the first time on a plane. It was a 13 hour flight between Taipei and Vancouver, and instead of sleeping, I stayed up the entire time, listening to this album on repeat. Around this time, more people were starting to notice One Direction, and their fan base grew exponentially.
Four – No Control
Their main sound changed for this album, but their vocals all sound great. While it’s sad that this was their last album with Zayn, the songs were all bangers. Stockholm Syndrome was so close to being my top pick, but Louis’ vocals in No Control truly won me over.
Made in the A.M. – Infinity
If I’m being completely honest, when this album was first released, I had stopped being such an avid fan of One Direction, so there’s no song that immediately jumps out at me. But since I’ve been listening to so much of their music recently, I do know which song is my top pick. And that happens to be Infinity.
I hope that you found this article entertaining, as it was definitely fun for me to write. I’m honestly not sure when I’ll start listening to more current songs again, as I can still repeatedly listen to these five albums for a while.