Midnight Memories is a song by the English-Irish boy band One Direction from their third studio album of the same name. It was co-written by Julian Bunetta, Jamie Scott, John Ryan, band members Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson and written samples Joe Elliott, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, Phil Collen, Steve Clark and Richard Savage.
On January 25, 2014, it was announced that "Midnight Memories" would be the third single from the album. It received an official release on March 9, 2014.
Lyrically, the song describes partying with friends, and cleverly depicts the act of singing about 'midnight memories' while actually creating the midnight memories themselves.
The song was the opening number for the Where We Are Tour, and was performed on the On The Road Again Tour.
Background[]
On January 23, 2014, a 19 second clip of Liam discussing Midnight Memories was released, where he stated "It's actually one of the songs I wrote with Louis. This is the first song we wrote on the album, so this kinda like paved the way for this whole album sound and the way it all changes and stuff".
It is the second single to be written by members of the band, following the previous single of the same album, "Story of My Life". Talking to MTV News about the track, Bunetta said, "It's the title of the album and it just happens to fall in line with Up All Night, Take Me Home, it's all references to in the evening. And midnight memories are where most of the memories of this record were made. [It] was between midnight and 5 in the morning. We have so many memories of just being in the studio or being after a show or being in the back of the bus or going to one of the guys' places and hanging and writing. Or, just when you're young and that's when you kind of have all your experiences."[1]
The song does not feature a solo part from member Zayn Malik, which led to some negative responses from the fans.[2]
Lyrics[]
Music Video[]
| Music Video | Information | |
|---|---|---|
|
Released | January 31, 2014 |
| Length | 3:20 | |
| Director | Ben Winston | |
| Production Co | ||
| Choreographer | ||
| Filmed | December 2013 | |
| Location | London | |
| VEVO views | 164,794,306 (as of May 09, 2019) | |
Background[]
The official music video was filmed in London in December 2013. On 25 January 2014, it was announced that the video would premiere on Vevo at midnight on 31 January. To date, the video has over 140 million views. The video begins with One Direction at a house party, they are all bored until the DJ starts playing "Midnight Memories". They then leave the house and over run a take-away. They flirt with and ride around the streets of London with five elderly women on motorized scooters, steal a police boat and ride down the River Thames and the video ends with One Direction standing on the edge of the Tower Bridge.
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Behind the scenes[]
Reception[]
On 25 November, in a track-by-track review on Billboard writer Chris Payne and by Michael Craig on the Daily Mirror It opens with groovy guitar licks, leads into a peppy pre-chorus, and rocks out in the chorus behind a riff reminiscent of Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me."
Controversy[]
On 19 December 2013, it was announced that Def Leppard had asked their lawyers to look into allegations that "Midnight Memories" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" bear striking similarities. However, Def Leppard guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell confirmed to Billboard that they were not, in fact, pursuing legal action. Collen called the songs "very similar in structure", but nothing more. Campbell said: "The chords are one-four-five. Those are the blues. You don’t get more basic than that. I think what’s more reminiscent of the Leppard thing is the production, the sound, the vocals, the reverb and the way it’s assembled.