The Scene

The Only Direction for Boy Band One Direction: UP!

Published on Thursday, October 27 2011
Written by Super User

Remember the name One Direction! You should be hearing a lot from this British/Irish boyband in 2012! One Direction competed on the seventh season of "The X Factor" in the UK, placing played third in the competition and were mentored by Simon Cowell himself!

One Direction is made up of Niall Horan (18), Zayn Malik (18), Liam Payne, (18) Harry Styles (17), and Louis Tomlinson (19). Initially, each of the boys entered the competition as solo artists, but guest judge Nicole Scherzinger suggested the five teens be put into a band, and the rest is history!

After the show, the band was signed to a £2 million record contract with Syco (a joint venture between Simon Cowell and Sony Music) and released their debut single, "What Makes You Beautiful," in September. This feel-good pop song broke the pre-order sales record for Sony Music, and debuted at #1, selling 153,965 copies in the first week alone!

Their second single "Gotta Be You" is set for a November release in the UK. It will be followed shortly after by their debut album, Up All Night, which will feature songs written by Kelly Clarkson.

Not content to just rule the music charts, One Direction is topping another list as well. They have released two books that include exclusive interviews and photos: One Direction: Forever Young (Our Official X Factor Story), and Dare to Dream: Life As One Direction. Both have hit number one on the Sunday Times Bestseller List!

If that wasn't enough, One Direction is gaining some famous fans! The band met Joe Jonas, from multi-platinum selling boy band The Jonas Brothers, at the BBC Teen Awards earlier this month. Joe is now calling himself a fan, saying, "They're huge! I love their songs, I'm glad I got to see them perform."

With so much success in the UK already, it only makes sense that Simon would want to bring this unstoppable boy band to America! Band member Zayn recently confirmed on a Twitcam session that the band would be heading to the U.S. this January!

One Direction makes success look easy. Niall, Zayn, Liam, Harry, and Louis are set to take America by storm!

 

 

- Shannon Boyce, YH Staff