Everything One Direction #9YearsofOneDirection

Happy One Direction day!!! I can't believe that this band has now existed nine years- that we've been blessed by these amazing humans for this long. I can't believe that it's now been 4 years since they've been on hiatus, and that next year the amount of time as a band will equal the amount of time that they've been gone. It's been a very emotional time so far.

See even though this band has been around for nine years, I haven't actually been a die-hard fan (Like I am now) until the beginning of the year. It was a process. When they first started getting ridiculously famous, especially in the US, I was in elementary school and I had claimed I hated their songs and them mostly because every other person loved them and I was a pretentious little child. Story of My Life was the first song by them that I could admit I liked (key word being admit because I really did like What Makes You Beautiful however cliche and generic it may be). I didn't actually begin loving them until the beginning of this school year with Steal My Girl and then A.M being two songs I listened to nonstop.

Then in early April I was introduced to Louis Tomlinson, as in his solo music, specifically the heart wrenching Two of Us and thus began a downward neverending spiral into One Direction: their songs, interviews, video diaries, solo music, and more. It became quite an obsession.

It still is an obsession.

But I'm okay with that.

So I thought in honor of their 9 year anniversary, I'd list all the songs I liked from each album. You can pretty much tell that I like each album a little more until the peak of perfection that is Made in the AM.

So here we go (* = fav):

Up All Night (#1)

- What Makes You Beautiful*

- One Thing****

This is my least favorite album and it probably has something to do with the fact that Niall and Louis barely get to sing on it and the music is the most generic and predictable of all their songs. I have to give an honorary mention to Moments because I can at times tolerate it. I have to admit, some songs on this album make me want to go NO! Jimmy Protested.

Take Me Home (#2)

- Live While We're Young

- Kiss You**

- C'mon C'mon**

- Heart Attack**

- Rock Me

- I Would*

- They Don't Know About Us*

I like this album marginally better than the first one but LOUIS AND NIALL STILL DON'T GET TO SING NEARLY ENOUGH which makes me so sad because they're both such amazing, talented singers and their voices are like heaven and management is STUPID.

Midnight Memories (#3)

AKA the band is getting more freedom to leave behind their heartbreaker, boyband generic music to pursue more rock and roll or mature songs and I'm in love.

This album also holds a lot of emotional songs for me.

- Best Song Ever (with the best music video ever)**

- Story of My Life*

- Diana**

- You & I (on some days when the slow pace doesn't drive me insane)

- Don't Forget Where You Belong*

- STRONG****

- HAPPILY***

- Little Black Dress (aka Harry and Louis voices together = amazing)

- Through the Dark***

- Something Great**

If there's more than one * than it's a song that makes me want to cry in the best way possible. Strong is my anthem, my love, my everything and it's such a shame that I may never get to hear it on stage ever in my life. Honorable Mention to the album's namesake song: Midnight Memories (which is kind of basic but it's catchy and the origin story for it is just too funny).

FOUR (#4)

Here comes the love.

- STEAL MY GIRL****

(which is funnily enough the inspiration to one of my top male book characters ever: Peter Kavinsky from the To All the Boys trilogy)

- Ready to Run

- Where Do Broken Hearts Go?**

- 18** (aka "Niall took a chonce")

- Girl Almighty*** (This needs to be my alarm clock tone)

- Fool's Gold***

- Night Changes

- No Control***

- Fireproof****

- Stockholm Syndrome*

- Clouds**

- Illusion

- Act My Age (even if the thought of the ot5 being old men makes me cringe)

This album is WONDERFUL. It's my second favorite for a reason and you can probably tell by all the *s.

Also before we talk about my all-time favorite album ever, I'll clarify that HOME from the Perfect EP is also a favorite (***) and it's such a shame that it didn't make it onto the album. It's on the album in my heart though.

Made in the AM (#5) *thousands of heart emojis*

- Drag Me Down**

- Perfect*

- INFINITY***** (the only song I've ever laid in my bed and cried about other than Two of Us)

- End of the Day***

- If I Could Fly****

- Long Way Down*

- Never Enough*

- OLIVIA*****

- WHAT A FEELING!!!!************ (MY FAVORITE 1D SONG EVER)

- Love You Goodbye

- I Want to Write You A Song

- HISTORY****

- Temporary Fix*

- Walking in the Wind****

- Wolves**

- A.M***

The only song from the album not mentioned here is Hey Angel because even though it's growing on me, I still don't particularly like it that much... Maybe it'll end up a favorite a year from now, I'm excited to find out.

This album is special because it's the most real album they've made. Even though Zayn left, they proved that they were just as spectacular a band as they were when he was still in it. This album shows the true One Direction. Every song was worked on by the boys and it's the farthest from their partying/easy-going/boyband roots that they've gone and it shows... in a good way of course. The maturity of this album, the authenticity, the lyrics, the music, the atmosphere of this entire album is just so well done and amazing and I love it so so much.

Yeah so it's pretty obvious what songs I absolutely love and which ones I merely just like. The point is that One Direction is my favorite band ever and I hate myself for only becoming a fan when they were on hiatus and I miss them so much. I want them to come back more than anything else in the world (okay, maybe I want world peace and equality more than anything in the world but it's up there on the list) and I need them to return before I graduate high school.

Is that too much to ask?

I'll have to do a follow up elaborating on Made in the AM and also one on their solo music soon because I will never tire on writing about these four(five) idiots whom I love. If you told me months ago that I'd be crying over not one, but FIVE boys I would have laughed in your face but here we are... there's no going back. Not that I would want to go back. 1D always brings a smile to my face. When I'm sad all it takes is watching an old video- one smart alec comment from Lou or a clip of Niall laughing his head off or Liam rolling his eyes and Harry being a dork and I'm immediately comforted. They get me through bad days and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love Louis and Liam and Niall and Harry and sometimes even Zayn- well before he got into a twitter war with Louis, bad mouthed their music, and basically betrayed all of them.... I'm not bitter, really. Okay, I'm a little biased. I'm happy that Zayn seems to be happy with his solo career and that leaving seemed to work out for him and I'd definitely not be opposed to One Direction ft Zayn Malik in the future.

Anyway, this turned out to be a lot longer and more full of rambles than I initially intended but that's not surprising considering how much I love them. Happy 9 years to every Directioner out there. Stay strong, and remember: this is not the end, this is not the end, we can live forever.

no mourners, no funerals,

-SureenaWrites