Album Review: One Direction’s “FOUR”

I promise this is the last album review of the week! Before I even start this review, I’m going to say this. When I was little, I basically listened to anything that my parents and other family members listened to. I didn’t get my own feel of a favorite genre, artist/group until like 1997 and I’m just estimating it there. I would have been about six years old at that time and it sounds like that’s the same time that Backstreet Boys was just coming out with their first album. It was my first ever CD that I got and I cherish that memory everytime I hear a BSB song. As I grew up, my love for boy bands kind of went on the back burner. I would get back into them and try to listen to others, but nobody really had me wrapped around their finger like BSB. I would never compare BSB to One Direction, I just can’t do that out of respect for both groups. Since I started liking rock and metal music, I thought I wouldn’t find another pop boy band I’d like again. Well then I watched 1D’s film This Is Us over the summer, then everything I thought came to crushing halt. Now I consider myself a 1D fan and I feel like since I started out liking BSB that 1D makes everything feel like a full circle.

The new album came out this week. I literally couldn’t go back to sleep Monday morning, I kept seeing the advertisements on Facebook that it was out, I thought everybody in North America would have to wait that extra day because the UK always gets their new music out on a Monday. So when I saw the others advertising the same thing. I got on my Spotify and saw it was up there. I hard time containing my excitement. I started smiling uncontrollably and even did a little happy dance on my bed at seven o’clock in the morning. It’s kind of weird for me to do be doing a pop-rock album review, because I don’t like doing those because they honestly all sound the same to me. I’ve been looking forward to doing this album review since the beginning of October. So to start this off, since the first track is “Steal My Girl” I’m not going to do another review of it as I’ve already talked about it on its music video review. Click here to read about it. Onto the second track, “Ready To Run” I have a funny story to share. I was up in the middle of the night earlier last week, I had my TV on one of our pop Top 40 music channels, I think I was playing a game and I saw it on my TV and I paused my music through my headphones and rewind the station so I could hear it all the way through, I almost fell off the bed doing this too! I like this song.

The next track is “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” and it’s got a slow tempo, but it’s dance-y too. It’s got a nice balance, when I found this on YouTube the other day, I didn’t really like it. I’m still indecisive about it still after the second listen. The song “18” is next and it’s another slow track. I read on Twitter that it was by Ed Sheeran and it sounds like an Ed Sheeran song. I like it don’t get me wrong but I’m expecting to hear Ed’s voice instead. The fifth track is a song called, “Girl Almighty” this is more upbeat and kind of fast lyric wise. You could definitely dance to this one! The next one sounds so beautiful at the beginning, it’s called “Fool’s Gold” and I really, really like this song! Everything about it is just amazing. If I get any of these songs (I may be asking it for Christmas as a whole) this one will definitely be going on my iPod. Another favorite of mine is the second single of the album, “Night Changes” and when I saw this on YouTube the day it was released, I HAD to listen to it! I don’t regret it either because it is so beautiful! I tried to watch the acoustic version of this song they did on their Hangout the other day and I couldn’t get through it. I literally felt my eyes weld up.

I love how you can easily hear the guitars on this song. It just makes me so happy! The song is called, “No Control” and it kind of describes my mood for this entire song. It’s not a very dance-y type of song even though it’s uptempo. You can jump and down to it so there’s a plus! I just love it! This next song is my FAVORITE song off the album. Another song I had to listen through YouTube, but once I heard it I had to replay it because it is addicting! “Fireproof” has the nice guitars starting it out and I just want to dance throughout it. I can already hum it. I am just in love with it. The choruses. Ugh! I could just go on and on about it I swear, but I can’t. After that one, is “Spaces” and it’s got this airy, kind of like you were floating out in space. Not mocking the song in any way, but it’s got that kind of vibe to it. It’s pretty slow but not that bad. It’s a good breakup song. The next is “Stockholm Syndrome” and I like the piano and guitar start of it. I don’t want to sound girly on a boy band review, but considering I’ve made a damn food out of myself I’m taking the risk, it sounds like an soulful song from the 1920’s, I mean it’s not jazzy but not full pop either. It’s a nice, elegant (I’m sorry!) tone to it! The last song is called, “Clouds” and I always love how the last songs are full on and aren’t slow to the point you’re sad it’s over! This is the type of song you can listen to in the kitchen while cleaning and just dance around crazy-like.

On the deluxe edition, there are four bonus tracks. The first one is called, “Change Your Ticket” and it’s got a nice pop-rock vibe to it. It’s nice and balanced. Kind of get a nice warm feeling about it. It’s the songs that make you think of summer that help you get through winter. This is one of those types of songs and I love it! The next one is “Illusion” and I’m not a big fan of it. I don’t like the lyrics nor the actual sound of it. I’m a bit surprised at myself because I was really excited to hear this one. The next is another beautiful track, again with the guitars. My goodness! “Once In A Lifetime” It’s so slow, but so good! You can’t help but smile to it. The guys sound really good on this one. So much emotion. I honestly didn’t want it to end! The last one of the bonus tracks is “Act My Age” and I was hoping for an upbeat song and that’s exactly what I got. It’s got that vibe of a camp fire ideal song. It’s a very pop-y song but not so cheesy. I just love of how it sounds, it doesn’t sound like a 1D song but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s the perfect ending of the whole album.