One Direction "Up All Night" album

- Release date : November 2011 -

Up All Night is the debut album by British-Irish boy band One Direction. It was released on November 18, 2011 through Sony Music. The project marks the first official release from the group since finishing third on The X Factor a year prior. Renowned producers Steve Mac, Matt Squire, Rami Yacoub and RedOne contributed to the album's production, among others.

"What Makes You Beautiful" was released as the album's lead single on September 11, 2011. It debuted at number one in the UK with sales exceeding 150,000 copies, making it the fastest-selling single of 2011. The single also charted in Belgium, Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand. "Gotta Be You" was released as the second single on November 11, 2011 and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 3. It also charted at number three on November 17, 2011 in the Irish Singles Charts.

"Up All Night" album tracks and lyrics

• What Makes You Beautiful lyrics
• Gotta Be You lyrics
• One Thing lyrics
• More Than This lyrics
• Up All Night lyrics
• I Wish lyrics
• Tell Me A Lie lyrics
• Taken lyrics
• I Want lyrics
• Everything About You lyrics
• Same Mistakes lyrics
• Save You Tonight lyrics
• Stole My Heart lyrics
• Stand Up lyrics [Limited Yearbook Edition]
• Moments lyrics [Limited Yearbook Edition]

"Up All Night" album reviews

After watching One Direction blossom (quite literally in one case) on last year's X Factor, not only did we long for the return of the original reality talent series Popstars, but we were genuinely excited for their inevitable album. Judging by their song choices on the show, we gladly set ourselves up for a collection of PG pop-rock with killer choruses.

True to their word, Up All Night delivers exactly that - and then some. Lead single 'What Makes You Beautiful' - a toe-tapping, Pink-meets-McFly mash-up with a breezy guitar pop melody - sets the tone to a tee; with the lion's share of uptempos, including 'One Thing' and the title track, following a similar template. Fortunately, there's too much enthusiasm to accuse them of negligence.

More surprising is their ability to carry off a sizeable ballad. The earworm chorus on 'More Than This' and heartfelt lyrics on 'Taken' ("You don't really want my heart/ You just like to know you can") are some of the best slowies to come out of boyband land in recent years; making their decision to release the significantly less exciting 'Gotta Be You' as the second cut all the more mind-boggling. Sure, it's only playground love, but sometimes that's the best kind.

Occasionally they dip into lazy habits - 'I Want' veers towards the predictable, 'Everything About You' lacks any real hook and despite the Euro-friendly closer 'Stole My Heart' being perfectly serviceable, it makes for an odd last-minute addition. The overall result is an adorable as expected debut that also has a surprising amount of bite. Future boybands beware: this one means serious business.

*** by Robert Copsey, Digital Spy ***