One Direction - The Albums Collection (2012-2014) {Japanese Editions} Re-Up

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One Direction - The Albums Collection (2012-2014) {Japanese Editions} Re-Up

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English-Irish teen-pop boy band formed during the British TV singing competition "The X Factor" in 2010. They finished third in the series and subsequently signed with Simon Cowell's label Syco Music. In November 2011 they released their debut album "Up All Night". The album went straight to number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, which made One Direction the first UK group in US chart history to debut at number one with their first album.

Propelled to international success by social media, One Direction's four albums, Up All Night (2011), Take Me Home (2012), Midnight Memories (2013) and Four (2014) topped charts in most major markets, and generated hit singles including "What Makes You Beautiful", "Live While We're Young", "Story of My Life" and "Night Changes".

Their achievements include five Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, eleven MTV Europe Music Awards, and nineteen Teen Choice Awards out of nineteen nominations, among 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 had an estimated personal combined wealth of £25 million ($41.2m) making them 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.

After the release of Four, One Direction became the first band in the U.S. Billboard 200 history to have their first four albums debut at number one. Their third album, Midnight Memories, was the biggest-selling album worldwide of 2013 despite being released in later November. In 2014, Billboard named One Direction the top artist of the year.

~ Wiki

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Take Me Home is the second studio album by British-Irish boy band One Direction, released on 9 November 2012 by Sony Music Entertainment. As a follow-up to One Direction's internationally successful debut album, Up All Night (2011), Take Me Home was written in groups and has an average of just under five songwriters per track. Largely recorded and composed in Sweden during 2012, Savan Kotecha, Rami Yacoub and Carl Falk, who composed One Direction's hits, "What Makes You Beautiful" and "One Thing", spent six months in Stockholm developing songs for the album, and were able to shape melodies around the members' tones.

The album's songs are characterised by metronomic pop, vocal harmonies, hand claps, prominent electric guitar riffs, bright synthesizers, a homogeneous sound and message, and rotations of lead vocals. The members' voices are presented individually on the record, and its lyricism speaks of falling in love, unrequited love, the insistence that flaws are what make a person unique, commitment, jealousy, and longing for past significant others. Take Me Home garnered mostly positive reviews from music critics. There was praise for its quality of production, while criticism hinged on its generic, rushed nature.

Globally, the album topped the charts in more than 35 countries, and was the fourth best-selling album of 2012, selling 4.4 million units. The album's number-one debut on the US Billboard 200 chart made One Direction the first group to bow atop the Billboard 200 with their first two albums since American girl group Danity Kane entered with Welcome to the Dollhouse in 2008 and their self-titled debut in 2006. One Direction also became the second act in 2012 to achieve two number-one albums within a 12-month period, and the first boy band in US chart history to land two number-one albums in a calendar year. Their debut album and Take Me Home were the third and fifth best-selling albums of 2012 in the United States, respectively, making the band the first act to place two albums in the year-end top five in the Nielsen SoundScan era.

~ Wiki

After placing third in the 2010 season of Britain's The X Factor, five-member boy band One Direction inked a record deal with mega-exec/TV personality Simon Cowell and released their debut album, 2011's Up All Night. A global sensation, the album garnered several hit singles and sold millions of copies worldwide. It also faired pretty well with critics, who appreciated the band's mix of melodic songcraft and catchy, dance-oriented material that, while slickly produced, avoided the commercial cynicism and adult contemporary posturing of some of their '80s and '90s forebears. Rather than mess with a good thing, One Direction stick with this formula on the band's sophomore effort, 2012's Take Me Home. Once again working largely with Sweden's Carl Falk, Rami Yacoub, and Savan Kotecha, who produced Up All Night, One Direction deliver another immediately catchy mix of dancey pop that maximizes the group's shared lead-vocal approach and peppy, upbeat image. This album highlights even more than their previous one how much One Direction's mix of punchy guitars over snappy beats, handclaps, and bright synthesizers has in common with the positive, fun-loving tone of '70s bubblegum pop, as well as more contemporary bands like the Jonas Brothers and perennial guilty pleasure Hanson. Also added to the mix this time around are two songs ("Little Things" and "Over Again") co-written by British singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran, whose intimate folk-R&B aesthetic lends an air of maturity to One Direction's admittedly squeaky-fresh sound. The boys of One Direction also nab a few co-writing credits here, as does McFly's Tom Fletcher, whose contribution "I Would," a kind of in-spirit sequel to his Up All Night contribution "I Want," stands out as a considerably smart and infectious cut. Ultimately, tracks like the frenetically hyper "Kiss You" and the soundtrack-ready "Back for You" will, as with the rest of Take Me Home, certainly appeal to the group's rabid teen followers, and might even end up on their parents' playlist, too.

~ Matt Collar, All Music

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Midnight Memories is the third studio album by the English-Irish boy band One Direction, released on 25 November 2013 by Columbia Records, Syco Music and Sony Music. The album was described as having a "slightly rockier tone" than their previous efforts. It has become the fastest-selling album in Amazon UK's history, breaking the record set by One Direction's previous release, Take Me Home (2012). The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, making One Direction the first group in history to debut at number one in the US with their first three albums. The album was preceded by the release of the singles "Best Song Ever" and "Story of My Life".

Upon the album's release, Midnight Memories received mixed reviews from music critics. Many critics praised the lyrical depth and musical composition on the album, as well as the group's level of involvement in the production process. However, others argued that the material was less memorable than their previous work and felt the themes were not as mature as expected. Despite being released five weeks before the year's end, Midnight Memories nevertheless became the best-selling album of 2013 as listed by the IFPI, with sales of four million copies.

~ Wiki

After conquering the pop world over a three-year span with their many hit singles, two chart-topping albums, a box office smash concert film, and sold-out arena tours, it would be understandable if the lads of One Direction took some time off to regroup and pursue other things like having lives, taking film roles, or embarking on solo projects. They did nothing of the sort, and their third album in three years, Midnight Memories, rolled off the production line right on time for the holidays. Anyone expecting there to be any kind of drop in quality, or early warnings that the group had begun their inevitable decline, will be happily surprised that not only does the album satisfy the established quota of thrilling modern pop tracks and uplifting ballads, but also introduces some interesting new directions: one direction that makes sense in the music landscape of 2013, and one that comes out of nowhere. In that first category are the songs, like "Through the Dark" and "Something Great" that sound heavily influenced by the inescapably popular upbeat, acoustic guitar-driven folk-pop of the Lumineers and Mumford & Sons. Even though their cleaned-up take sounds a little on the slick side, the group deliver the lyrics with a clear-voiced enthusiasm that is infectious and helps them go down smoothly. The direction that's a bit of a shock comes to the fore on songs like the title track and "Little Black Dress." With their distorted power chords, tightly wound rhythms, and punchy vocals, they sound like an uncanny mashup of Rick Springfield circa "Jessie's Girl and "Pour Some Sugar on Me"-era Def Leppard. It's a fun left turn that works really well, as the guys' voices are surprisingly sassy and show off some spunky rock & roll attitude. These stylistic diversions show two paths the band could take in the future if they decide to evolve and discard their pop sound entirely. Not that their sound doesn't work here, as there are plenty of tracks that will undoubtedly show up (alongside the title track) on their Greatest Hits collection. "Best Song Ever" is a buoyant, instantly catchy radio hit that may not be the best song ever, but it may be theirs, the dramatic "Diana" adds a little bit of adult feeling into the mix, and the cinematically swoony ballad "You & I" shows that the group have a sure-handed way with a big ballad and can tap into some real emotion. Not many acts have blown up as much as One Direction have in such a short time and managed to stay on track; even fewer have tried to grow musically, even a little bit. One Direction and the team have done exactly that here, and when the album ends and the various styles, songs, and moods are added up, Midnight Memories ends up as another satisfying album that does everything a One D album should do and then some.

~ Tim Sendra, All Music

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Four is the fourth studio album by English-Irish boy band One Direction, released on 17 November 2014 by Columbia Records and Syco Music. Two singles were released from the album: "Steal My Girl" and "Night Changes", both achieving platinum status in the US, and scoring the band their tenth and eleventh UK top-ten hits.

The album received generally positive reviews from music critics. It debuted at number one in 18 countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States. The album is also their last with member Zayn Malik, who announced he was leaving the band on 25 March 2015. As of March 2015, Four became their fourth consecutive record to sell in excess of one million copies in the United States.

~ Wiki

If it's November and you're a One Directioner it can only mean one thing…time for another album. Four is the band's fourth album in four years, each released just in time for optimal holiday-season gift-giving. It's their fourth well-crafted, packed-with-great-pop-songs album in a row. Despite rumors flying about possible collaborations with everyone from John Legend to Pharrell to Good Charlotte, the band mostly worked with the same production team from Midnight Memories (Julian Bunetta and John Ryan) to craft an album that sounds perfectly up to date, but also just different enough from the usual chart-fodder to sound distinctive. Though the group and its team generally do a fine job with ballads, the tracks on Four with a little more life in them are the standouts. "Girl Almighty" is an odd mixture of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," Paul Simon, and Bollywood pop that doesn't sound like anything else on the charts, a couple tracks ("Stockholm Syndrome," "Fireproof") follow HAIM's lead and mix Fleetwood Mac-inspired vocal harmonies and sweetly slick '80s pop in a very pleasant way, and a handful more continue the group's odd but welcome fascination with '80s pop/rock, especially the very, very Journey-sounding "Steal My Girl." "Where Do Broken Hearts Go," too, feels like it time-traveled from the airwaves of an AOR station in 1984, where it was happily sandwiched between cuts by Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams. These tracks sound so good they can't help but overshadow the ballads that make up the rest of the record. It's becoming more clear with each record that in their current incarnation, the guys in One D are way better at the fun songs than they are at the ballads. Songs like the facile "Night Changes" and the overblown "Spaces" sound overcooked and the one big name they worked with, Ed Sheeran, lets down the side with his mawkish "18." The lads sound much more convincing as fun-loving party boys or slightly melancholic crooners, and when they reach for the big emotions, they just can't reach them. Luckily on Four the scales are tipped heavily in favor of the kind of songs they do best, with the majority of them sounding like good-time hits that will go a long way toward warming up a cold November night.

~ Tim Sendra, All Music

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