One Direction Drop Their Fifth Album, ‘Made in the AM’

Zayn Malik hasn’t wished One Direction well with their new album. The track, with its Police infused sound, was the flawless prelude in showcasing the new direction (Ha. ha. ha) this album would clearly be taking.

However it’s important to notice that the boys only co-wrote a handful of songs on the album – that job has been entrusted to those who know exactly how to write a hit.

Speaking earlier this year, Liam Payne said to Capital FM that the group wanted their fifth album to be “quite a long-lasting album that you can listen to anytime, like Ed [Sheeran]’s album”. Even in cases when the departed member returns – Kevin Richardson of the Backstreet Boys, for example, or Geri Halliwell of the Spice Girls – it’s hard to get back to where you were before the schism.

The group revealed that they went through tough times immediately after Malik departed from the band. Still, the fact that they’re saying “hiatus” instead of “breakup” indicates that they’re not ready to call it quits, at least not yet. You can nearly see the straight lines behind the songs; Starting at dot 1 – a memorable repetitive hook, you can follow the line to dot 2 – lyrics shoe-horned in to fit the end-rhyme (who could forget the disappointed/anointed disaster of “Gotta Be You” four years ago?). The boys have moved on and are “stronger than ever”, says Horan.

The former One Direction member was spotted wandering around Manhattan when a photographer snapped him at an incredibly unflattering angle.

There was no better album the band could have dropped before disappearing for a bit. In the end, its this unique take on the “boy band” aesthetic that will forever set the group apart from the other handsome young men in their genre’s high-gloss history. However, /We Built a Chapel but never prayed/ and /I tried to forgive you but I don’t know how/ just strikes a nerve in you. However, songs such as “Olivia” sound like a musical number from the 1950s and reminds me of the Beatles. Or, you know, you could just blast it in your vehicle and sing at the top of your lungs.

“A.M.:” The final and title song of the album, “A.M.” is a great nostalgia-perking finale to their album.

Here’s what we thought of Made in the A.M.

“I think everybody draws from personal experiences, so of course to a degree I’m sure that influenced a few of it”, Tomlinson said of the rumors to People.

While the audience laughed at his remark, the One Direction foursome remained awkwardly silent.

“Wolves:” If I had to guess, this song might be one of their next singles off the album.

The first of Made in the A.M.’s two homages to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, “End of the Day” borrows its at-times-disorienting verse/chorus change straight from the Paul McCartney playbook.