X Factor UK Headlines for 11/16/14

One Direction are releasing their new album on tomorrow and the news are pretty much all about them this week.

ONE DIRECTION – FOUR – Album Reviews

THE TELEGRAPH: One Direction, Four, review: ‘songwriting by numbers, but the numbers add up’
THE GUARDIAN: One Direction: Four review – glossy pop with hints of Springsteen
THE GUARDIAN: One Direction: Four review – no longer kids’ stuff
DAILY MAIL: 1D’S new direction? Back to the Eighties! ADRIAN THRILLS reviews the band’s new album, Four
DIGITAL SPY: One Direction: FOUR album review – “More powerful than ever”
MTV: One Direction – FOUR Album Review! 1D Are All Grown Up!
USA TODAY: Album of the week: One Direction’s ‘Four’

One Direction perform ‘Steal My Girl’ – BBC Children in Need 2014

One Direction perform ‘Night Changes’ – BBC Children in Need 2014

Watch One Direction Perform Two Versions of New Single ‘Night Changes’
One Direction didn’t waste any time performing its newest single, “Night Changes,” on television — and it was all for a good cause.

Just hours after the official online release of “Night Changes” on Friday (Nov. 14), 1D performed the new song on BBC One’s Children In Need fundraiser event. “Night Changes” is the second single from the group’s forthcoming album, Four, due Nov. 17.
Read more: Billboard

One Direction performing Night Changes at Royal Variety
http://youtu.be/0YDV-M3WhC0

Kate meets the OTHER Harry: Duchess of Cambridge joins One Direction stars (and Ellie Goulding) at Royal Variety Performance
The Duchess of Cambridge looked the picture of health as she and Prince William arrived to watch the Royal Variety Performance for the first time – stopping to shake hands with a rather more casually dressed One Direction on their way in.

Glowing in a stunning floor length Diane von Furstenberg lace gown, and her hair in a simple up-do, Kate – who is 16 weeks pregnant – showed barely a hint of a baby bump as she and William arrived at the London Palladium.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were greeted by Ellie Goulding and members of One Direction, who said Kate’s appearance gave little indication that she is nearly 16 weeks into her second pregnancy.
Read more: Daily Mail

One Direction: ‘It’s not a question of burnout: we enjoy it’ – exclusive interview
Not long ago, I travelled to mountain-zone America, on a short trip to interview a singer, for which I was picked up in a car laid on by one of the big record labels. The driver noted my British accent and said, “You like One Direction?”

I hadn’t kept up with One Direction since The X Factor, though I knew the rough narrative. The boy band had finished third in 2010, and gone on to make decent gains in the British charts, before taking their preppy, 60s-influenced synth-pop to America – where they boomed, selling server-towers’ worth of a first album, Up All Night. Their second and third albums, 2012’s Take Me Home and 2013’s Midnight Memories, went to No 1. They defied their risky name and its hint of one-dimensionality by diversifying into movies, perfumes, toothpaste, generally making giddy-money for themselves and their patron, Simon Cowell.

Sure, I told the driver, One Direction are fine. He said that the band had flown into town a week ago, and that he’d driven one of the boys to his hotel. About a 15-minute journey.

I’m not cold to the appeal of a well-steered pop group but, with One Direction, I’d not felt that snap that occurs when an artist or a band suddenly catches your interest – snaring you with an infectious vocal, a novel look, ideally an undeniably superb song. There was something about the coy way the driver spoke, though, that made me wake up a bit.

You only drove one of them? Where were the others? “In different cars,” the driver said.

For a 15-minute drive? “Five members, five cars.”

And right there, One Direction became intriguing.
Read more: The Guardian

One Direction interview: ‘We want to take a hold of our career’
One Direction will release their fourth album Four worldwide tomorrow (November 17), and what many may not realise is the boyband have co-written 10 of the 12 tracks this time out.

“Now we feel like we really want to take a hold of where our career is going; to say the things we want to say, and sing about the stuff we want to sing about,” Liam Payne told Digital Spy.
Read more: Digital Spy

How to write a boyband hit – by One Direction’s songwriters
It’s easy, surely? Just get five good looking lads to sing any old tosh, and watch the money roll in. Not so, say three experts
The days of crisp white suits and singers rising from their stools at the key change are long gone, but the demand for five guys with clean hair and middling vocal abilities is seemingly inexhaustible. It’s why Jason Orange leaving Take That remains national news, why McBusted are able to sell out arenas, and why One Direction are worth a considerable fortune, which will only swell with the release of their fourth album on Monday.

To a discerning muso, the artistry behind a boyband might appear nonexistent, but without the right song, there is nothing for fans to scream about. That is where the silent Svengali comes in, the possessor of the secret pop formula: take Wayne Hector – the songwriter behind 30 No 1 singles to date, a man who’s written for Westlife, Damage, 5ive, Blue, A1, Il Divo, JLS and One Direction. Or Ed Drewett (the Wanted, One Direction) and Fiona Bevan (5 Seconds of Summer, One Direction) – both skilled at morphing music base metal into chart gold.

So, how do they go about writing a boyband hit?
Read more: The Guardian

Trying to Steal His Girl? One Direction’s Niall Horan writes love song for Liam Payne’s girlfriend Sophia Smith
For girlfriend Sophia Smith, having a love song penned for you on a One Direction album, is likely to be the Best Song Ever.

But it was revealed this week that the touching tribute, named Illusion from the band’s fourth studio album, wasn’t actually written by Liam Payne but by his bandmate Niall Horan.

Speaking about the dedication, Liam recently admitted that his bandmate had laid down the loved-up lyrics without him.
Read more: Daily Mail

Wrong Direction: Why The Wanted Never Reached The Boy Band Stratosphere
There were sonic missteps and album delays, but the boy band war of 2012 was over before it began.

In March 2012, there were not one but two U.K. male pop groups on the cover of Billboard magazine, with a story written by Steven J. Horowitz about the impending boy band boom that the arrival of these two groups, One Direction and the Wanted, signaled within pop music. It made sense to pair the two quintets, who were far from household names at that moment but had been gaining momentum in different ways. One Direction’s debut album, Up All Night, had just been released in the U.S. and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, making 1D the first U.K. band to start at the top of the albums chart with its debut set (the Beatles were among the acts that hadn’t accomplished that feat). Meanwhile, the Wanted owned the higher-charting hit of the two groups, as the bombastic Eurodance single “Glad You Came” peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 chart (One Direction’s concurrent single, “What Makes You Beautiful,” tapped out at No. 4). The Wanted’s debut album had already been a smash in the U.K., and a seven-song EP was due out in America in April 2012.
Read more: Billboard

Let’s hope they don’t change their minds! It would cost One Direction £68,000 and 75 YEARS to remove their tattoos (including Zayn’s cartoon of fiancée Perrie Edwards)
Tattoos might be skin deep, but you’ll need pretty deep pockets if you decide to have them removed later on, according to new research.

Luckily for One Direction, who have covered their bodies in ink, they’ve earned $75m (£47m) this year alone.

A clinic has analysed the body art of the four tattooed members of world-famous boy band One Direction and found that – should the boys ever regret going under the needle – it would cost them almost £68,000 collectively to make their tattoos just a ‘Midnight Memory’.
Read more: Daily Mail

‘One Direction have just hired Eric’: Simon Cowell shares sweet video of baby son drumming to Story Of My Life
He shocked the world when he became a dad at the ripe old age of 55 but Simon Cowell is clearly loving his new role.

The proud father took to his Facebook page to share a sweet video of nine-month-old Eric enthusiastically drumming along to One Direction’s Story Of My Life.

Simon captioned the video: ‘One Direction have just hired Eric as their new drummer.’
Read more: Daily Mail

The Band Aid 30 supergroup get to work in the London studio to re-record classic charity track Do They Know It’s Christmas?
When the song was originally released 30 years ago, a number of today’s biggest pop acts weren’t even born.

But Bob Geldof openly welcomed in the likes of Rita Ora and pop heart-throbs One Direction as he re-recorded his classic charity track Do They Know It’s Christmas? in London on Saturday.

And it seemed to be a magical affair judging by the inside photos as artists old and new got together on Saturday.
Read more: Daily Mail


_ _ _

Irish Charts
Singles
1 Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud
.
3 One Direction – Steal My Girl
4 G.R.L. – Ugly Heart
7 Cheryl Cole – I Don’t Care
19 Ella Henderson – Ghost
66 Ella Henderson – Glow
86 Cheryl Cole – Crazy Stupid Love (feat. Tinie Tempah)

Albums
1 Pink Floyd – The Endless River
.
9 Cheryl Cole – Only Human
15 Ella Henderson – Chapter One
30 One Direction – Midnight Memories
54 One Direction – Up All Night
72 One Direction – Take Me Home

_ _ _

The Official Charts
Singles
1 Gareth Malone’s All Star Choir – Wake Me Up
.
3 One Direction – Steal My Girl
4 Cheryl Cole – I Don’t Care
37 Ella Henderson – Ghost
38 G.R.L. – Ugly Heart
45 One Direction – 18
46 Ella Henderson – Yours
47 One Direction – Where Do Broken Hearts Go
54 One Direction – Night Changes
65 One Direction – Girl Almighty
69 One Direction – Ready To Run
71 Cheryl Cole – Crazy Stupid Love (feat. Tinie Tempah)
74 One Direction – Fool’s Gold
84 Ella Henderson – Glow

Albums
1 Pink Floyd – The Endless River
.
7 Cheryl Cole – Only Human
16 Ella Henderson – Chapter One
50 One Direction – Midnight Memories
75 Collabro – Stars (BGT 2014 Winners)

About Mateja Praznik 1060 Articles
I recently graduated from the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In my free time I like to read books, watch TV and listen to music. I'm also a huge cat lover. I cover X Factor UK for MJsBigBlog.com.