Over the past couple months, I have constantly been hearing obsessive talk about One Direction, the boy band consisting of five European young men who have recently just hit stardom and have sky-rocketed the billboard charts, making number one on the U.S. Billboard 200. A British-Irish boy band that had one second runner-up in X-Factor UK managed to hit the charts at the top, and are now in the hearts of thousands of young girls. Almost every girl I know has heard of One Direction, and each of them has their own favorite song and own favorite boy. And of course there are the girls who are completely obsessed with them and live and breathe their names.

One Direction originated from X-Factor UK, in which five guys — Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, and Harry Styles auditioned to receive the chance of showcasing their vocal talents. The boys did not get chosen individually, but were grouped together into One Direction. In 2011, their album, Up All Night was released, and it made number one as a debut album. They have been on tour all year, and are coming to Chicago, for the second time, on June 2nd, 2012, which has started an uproar amongst many of the fans, since they will also be here for a book signing. Apparently, they are the cutest guys in the whole entire world and are the most amazing people ever — and I quote this from many of the things I hear fans say about them.

However, when looking at their records on the charts, and then comparing it to their music, I don’t understand how they reached number one. Their music isn’t all that extraordinary. It’s the kind of music to listen to when going on a long drive with your friends with the car’s top down. Yet, I feel as if their attractiveness and youth has pulled in more fans than the music itself, because honestly, their music isn’t out of this world.

“What Makes You Beautiful” – When the video came out, I’ll admit, I myself was kind of taken in, but it soon got old. The video is  nice to watch, all of the boys having a good time at the beach. The song itself is catchy, entertaining, and has a nice beat. I can see why girls loved this song so much — the message is clearly a lovely one. However, the song doesn’t have any meaning behind it other than what is being sung. But at the end of the day, the tune does get stuck in your head, and this is a song that anyone might have mixed feelings about.

“Gotta Be You” – I never understood this song. The meaning itself is pretty clear, but by the end of the song, the reason for singing it, or even what the voices are trying to say is hard to decipher because the video itself is misleading. This song has a sadder tone to it, but it is not very catchy, and tune itself doesn’t get to you as much as many other songs might. The lyrics depict a heartbreak that you can’t really relate to either.

“One Thing” – All I got out of this song was that a boy is day-dreaming about a girl he must have imagined and wants her to be real and exist in the life around him. Pretty deep. The song is catchy, but honestly, there is nothing else going for it. This song and the previous two mentioned made big hits, in my opinion, because of how the videos were made, showing each of the guys dressed very nicely and dancing around. This song isn’t even very clear — what is that ‘one thing’? It could be anything. It’s better not to let people’s imaginations run free.

“More Than This” – As far as I know, this song, and the ones after this on the album, have not yet been released with a music video. The song is actually quite lovely. It’s a sad song, and the lyrics are quite touching as well, even though it’s nothing we haven’t heard before. The music, the tune, and the lyrics combine nicely, and it’s a sweet song to listen to while sitting down on the couch during a quiet evening.

“Up All Night” – I’ve heard it before. The lyrics seem redundant to me, and the music itself is quite similar to a lot of the music I’ve listened to. This song did not even lightly entertain me, and it definitely lacks originality.

“I Wish” – This song is nothing too great, but it really isn’t too horrible either. The song has it’s upbeat tune, and it falls back down to a nice smooth rhythm, which I find quite nice. The lyrics aren’t completely meaningless, and the guys’ voices suit this sort of song nicely. They do better with the slow, more solemn songs than with the upbeat songs, in which originality just wanders off.

“Tell Me a Lie” – Another song that I found to have no originality. I feel as if I’ve heard the tune somewhere else, but just can’t really remember it. However, I have to commend the lyrics. There is a sort of maturity in it that I didn’t see in many of their other songs. There is a different message in it other than “I love you” and “Let’s stay out and do everything possible”. It’s more of a guilt-themed song in which there is also a hint of envy.

“Taken” – Another one of their songs with the slower tempo, with a little bit of an upbeat rhythm. However, there is also the absence of something new, something their own. Their voices play nicely with the music, but on the whole, this song does not appeal very much.

“I Want” – This is the one song that does not start off with the same type of music or similar sort of tune, out of all their songs. There is a different sort of style to this song, and the difference makes it a song that I found to be something worth listening to. The lyrics also show the obvious disdain people have of selfish people, and the lyrics might actually be relateable.

“Everything About You” – This song reminds me of many of their other fast-played songs in the album. It isn’t terrible, but it also does not have a spark, it does not have an appeal to it. The song is made faster just by taking a couple words and saying them over and over again in a fast repeat. This can be quite irritating to listen to during the entire song.

“Same Mistakes” – My favorite song from this album. This song is slowly-played, and isn’t very fast-paced. However, this song is also a song that can be related to almost every relationship in life, not just that of a romantic partner. The music is wonderful. It’s sweet, sad, and the voices play together so nicely. The message is mature, and it talks about how people never really learn from their mistakes, which I feel is an important idea to understand.

“Save You Tonight” – This song has an anthem-type feel to it at first, and it plays up to one of their fast-paced songs. I don’t have many great things to say about this song becuse it really just follows almost the same music patterns from previous songs. The lyrics are also very cheesy and don’t make much sense to me.

“Stole My Heart” – This song makes it seem as if falling in love with someone at first sight is possible. Sure, for some people it might be. Regardless of the lyrics, the music itself is not at all new or different or in any way unique. I feel as if I’ve heard different renditions of this music over and over in many mainstream songs.

“Stand Up” – This song also starts off slowly, and actually seems to be promising a new, different type of song, but as it continues, it teases, and shows to be quite a lot like the other songs in this album — unoriginal. However, the feeling and the lyrics are different, and are the encouraging type of lyrics that want to get everyone to just get up and have a good time.

“Moments” – My second favorite. This song has meaning, good music, and even if the music isn’t very unique, it’s catchy. It’s something one can easily get stuck in their head because the lyrics are actually very nice. At least the album ends with a wonderful song.

One Direction is overrated, and most of its success is due to the good-looks of the young boys. However, they do have potential, and I wonder what else they’ll bring out as the years go by. But I feel as if their famosity won’t last a very long time, and the boy band craze will slowly die down, and maybe so will their career. Hopefully, they’ll be able to release music in the future that will prevent that from ever happening.