ONE DIRECTION

One Direction, the most popular boyband now

When the teachers of the English Department resumed the idea of preparing a blog last January, our main idea was to give you, our students, a different possibility to be in contact with the culture of the English-speaking Countries. In addition, you could read and write your opinions in English on many different topics. Two months later, we can publish a post made by one of you. Believe it or not, this is the kind of thing that makes us, teachers, feel that our work is well-worth doing and be proud of you all.

Even though we recognise that we don´t like this band, we want to publish it as a tribute to all the students that have taken part, one way or another, in this blog. Thank you all, and specially thank you, Tamara, for this fantastic work.

Have a nice holiday and... Remember, the best is yet to come!





One Direction, frequently abbreviated as "1D" is an Irish-British boyband formed in London in 2010. They became first known in the British TV show "The X Factor". During the show, the five-member band formed by Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Liam Payne received the support of Simon Cowell, owner of the program and responsible for the category of groups in this edition of the program.

At first, they auditioned as solo artists  and all of them went through to the next round of the program, called "The Bootcamp".

They all qualified to the next rounds at The Bootcamp as solo artists, until they were all eliminated before the round called "The Judges´Houses". It was at that moment when the judges of the program thought that all five could make a very good-looking band, and that with the union of their voices they could make great harmonies.

Simon Cowell called them "One Direction" and they got through to "The Judges´Houses" in the category of bands. Then, they sang Natalie Imbruglia´s song "Torn". With this song, they made it through to the final round of the show, called "The Live Shows".


In this phase of the program, they had to sing for the audience vote every week. You could tell they had little experience and they had had little time to become a band, but yet they had a good reception of audiences and the show´s judges, making them reach the final.

Finally, although they fought until the end, they could only reach the third place. Ironically, they have been more successful since then than the winner of the program. Cowell saw in them a moneymaker, and  he paid a record deal with Syco Records so that they could release their first album. In September 2011, they released their first single, "What Makes You Beautiful". It was an instant hit at the main music charts in the United Kingdom and made them become the first British band to reach number one with their first album in the history of the chart.

In 2012, the band, seeing the success of their first album "Up All Night", announced their second studio album, "Take Me Home". Then, they performed at the Closing Ceremony of the London Olympic Games.

In September 2012, the first single of their second album, "Live While We´re Young", reached number one in the iTunes store in more than 40 countries.

To finish with, we must say that, as The Beatles in the 60s, One Direction has started the new "British Invasion", a new wave of British bands which is spreading all over the world with a fantastic reception of the public.





Check this video of the song that was to be their first single if they had won The X Factor. It says the story about them and their experience in the program.

 

 

 

This article has been written entirely by Tamara Alvites (4ºB)