The X Factor will always be a huge part of our life no matter whatever else we do, because that show started everything. It’s not just the show itself either; I also have to thank everyone who was involved with it for giving me the opportunity – the judges, the crew, the producers, everyone. A lot of people believed in us and gave us that shot. Without them and their incredible hard work, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
It’s no secret that I was pretty emotional when we signed our record deal. In fact I was nervous more or less every time I went to see the record company; it can be quite an intimidating place when you’re young – lots of grown-ups! I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but being from a small town it was just so culturally different for me to walk into a big, swanky record-label office in the middle of London. Holmes Chapel is a small, very English town. Then suddenly I was hanging around these record-label offices and there were people from every corner of the world, people of all shapes and sizes. It was fantastic. Once you spend more time there, you realise all these people tend to be really creative and into the same kind of stuff as you – I found that instantly appealing. Still, to this day, I find people watching in London one of the best things to do. I love that. Back then, when I hadn’t seen many people outside of my home town, it was just unreal. That’s why the record-label offices always felt like being on a different planet. There was so much to take in and so many new perspectives, I remember it being really fun to be around and such an exciting and defining time for us.
With my sister Gemma (far left) and our friends Sophie and Ryan Cantrill (second from left and far right).
With my wonderful mum.
My big sister Gemma giving me hugs again!
The next step was to head off to Sweden and LA for the début album recording sessions. We were all pretty excited on the plane over. I was just shaking my head and said, ‘I can’t believe we are flying off to a recording studio!’ and Niall was like, ‘Sweden! We’re going to record in Sweden. This is nuts!’ None of us had a huge amount of experience of studios at all so this was another huge learning curve. I’ve since realised that that first trip to LA to record certain song parts was kind of crucial in terms of our first album and defining the band that we wanted to be – but to be honest, at the time I was just so excited to be there that I didn’t really look at it in those terms. In fact, I distinctly remember waking up on the first morning in this amazing hotel and just thinking, We’re in Holly-woooood! (That was the start of a special relationship I have with LA that I’ll tell you more about a little later.) In retrospect I think that was a good way to be because I’d have felt too much pressure if I’d thought about things too much. I was just loving experiencing all these new people who were so creative and interesting – and really good fun!
Unlike Midnight Memories and to a lesser degree Take Me Home, we weren’t involved much in the songwriting for the début album. Actually, I’m really glad we did it that way. It was a really good learning experience for us. If we’d gone in and tried to write an album ourselves it wouldn’t have been good. We had no experience of doing ... well, anything really. We would’ve just been guessing at that point. We spoke about this together as a band at the time. One night I said, ‘There’s no way I’m going to start telling these guys how I think we should sing!’ Louis was pretty quiet, and Zayn said, ‘I have all these ideas buzzing around in my head, but I know we need to listen to what they’re saying.’ We all recognised these guys knew exactly what they were doing.
Checking in with my family, catching up on sleep and eating too much – sounds like life on tour! (cont. over the page...)
Looking at both of these photos, you can see I was a very happy kid, for which I feel very fortunate. (cont. over the page...)
The producers were brilliant and they knew that this was the best way to get an amazing début album for One Direction. When you go in at such a young age and you’re working with a songwriter and a producer who’ve done all these amazing songs and you haven’t done anything in a studio, you certainly don’t feel comfortable to say, ‘What if I sing it like this instead?’ You don’t wanna tell someone who has had a million Number 1s how a song should be done. It was important for us to listen and learn, to do what was being asked of us and then later on take those lessons and try and adapt from there, rather than just jumping into the deep end and trying to write songs too early.
When we flew back into the UK we had a big shock to see so many of our amazing fans at the airport. That was a major moment for One Direction. I remember as we were heading into the airport, someone said to us that loads of fans were waiting there, but their words, ‘I think there are quite a lot of people!’ didn’t really prepare us! When I first turned a corner in the airport and saw the crowds, I said, ‘Oh my God, lads, you’re not going to believe what I’m looking at!’ It really was chaos, there were so many fans. Eventually we were escorted away and holed up in this valet parking office somewhere in the terminal, then bundled into a proper police riot van. When the doors shut on that van, we all just looked around at each other completely dazed, took a minute and then we were like, ‘That was intense!’ That’s exactly the right word. It was the most intense experience we’d had so far.
Mentally, that was a big deal for us. We’d met quite a few fans out in Sweden at the studio sessions, which had taken us aback, especially as that was in another country. But Heathrow was on another level altogether. Not so much in terms of the publicity or attention we received – it was simply the most intense experience we’d had so far. I remember it having a big impact on all five of us and our team. The fans were shouting our names, singing the lyrics to our songs, calling out, ‘We love you!’ They were just amazing.
Back when we did the early PA shows and first book signings these were publicised events, and naturally we’d be surprised at just how many people would show up. So to have that many people take time out of their day and go all the way to Heathrow was just nuts. It’s something I’ll never be able to thank the fans for enough.
By the time our début single was ready for release, I felt a sense of responsibility that this song was what we could give back to the fans who had done so much for us across social media, had come down to recording studios and supported us so strongly throughout and then after The X Factor. I felt as if we had to earn their support. I still do.
The early nerves were still very much there when we heard ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ on the radio for the first time. I remember we went into Radio 1 and we were all just so excited. Scott Mills was really supportive, and just as he pressed Play on the song he said, ‘Please like it!’ Then as the tune started, we were all just shaking our heads. Louis said, ‘This is unreal,’ and had his hands on his head, and I was jumping up and down singing along. What a buzz! Then on the way home from the station they played it again, while we were in the car. We all really liked the song but when you’re putting it out there you feel so vulnerable; it just feels like you’re putting yourself out there to be criticised. It was definitely a nervous time for us and we were just so happy that people liked it. To get a Number 1 was insane, beyond our wildest expectations. I remember when our management told us we had hit the top spot I was just shaking my head and going, ‘This is crazy!’ And it wasn’t just the girls who liked us. There were even a few guys out there saying they loved the song.
Like I said about Sweden, we were still getting used to fans in the UK so when we had to do the ‘Bring 1D To Me’ campaign – which took in four European countries in four days – it seemed completely surreal. I remember saying to the lads, ‘How do these people even know about us?’ I actually thought to myself, Why are we even going to Europe? We didn’t really get it, but what was happening was that the word of mouth and social media buzz around the band was travelling so fast it was almost out of control.
As a band, we’re really lucky that we live in a time like this, when social media can let so many people know about our music so quickly. Compared with how
the music industry worked 50, 20, even five years ago, the impact of social media has been enormous. We were fortunate to arrive just as this was beginning to be felt. I have to say, though, social media doesn’t create itself. We had this army of fans out there on Twitter and Facebook, just constantly posting stuff, and the speed and scale of how they networked news about One Direction out there was ridiculous. We’re so grateful for that. We know how much energy people have put in – and still do – to this band. That’s never underestimated.
The exciting news kept on coming. It really was just this blur of work and crazy stuff going on. By the time of the début album, we knew that we had an amazing fanbase and so we had strong hopes for the record. But to see it hit Number 2 in the UK and even go one higher in so many other countries was hard to comprehend, to be honest with you. I was a 17-year-old kid. I kinda couldn’t get my head around it at the time ’cos it didn’t really sit with me. It still hasn’t, if I’m being totally straight with you. We’ve always wanted to keep things moving and have been ambitious in driving for the next thing, so it kinda happened and we could briefly recognise how amazing that was, but then we didn’t really have time to let the achievement settle in. We just had to keep moving. So it was kinda like we knew it was incredible and amazing, but we never felt we had time to sit and say to each other, ‘Jeez, we’re Number 1!’ It was more a case of, ‘Lads, see you at 5am in the bus. We’ve got a radio interview first, then a photo shoot, then …’
When I look back at that period now, I can’t believe I was only 17 at the time. I also find it really strange to think that so much time has passed since then. It feels young to be 20, so looking back to when I was 17 and remembering all of that stuff happening is mad. The whole thing is outrageous. I recognise that it was outrageous then and that it still is now. It’s a hard thing to describe. I wanna write these really clever and concise words that sum up the whole crazy experience and my emotions at the time, but it’s so difficult, so strange, so amazing ... You can never really put into words how it makes you feel.
What I can say is that 2011 was such a great year. We’d done those really early PA shows, then the X Factor tour, promo and interviews, radio station visits, and then the single had hit Number 1, the album Number 2. It was just a crazy period when we started to believe that maybe we, as a band, could genuinely take off. Even so, by the time we got to the December tour we were still pretty nervous. People probably assume that we just think everything is going to go to plan and be a huge success, but that’s not the case. We had nerves then and we still have them now. We really focus on every show and get nervous every time we put ourselves out there again. You can never let your guard down because the fans deserve the very best.
So the UK début album tour felt like high stakes to me. Our own headline shows, bigger venues ... I was feeling the pressure. We still kinda felt like we were blagging it a lot. That tour was a step up – it felt like it was the first thing we were doing on our own and it was big. So we all felt the same. We were like, ‘There’s absolutely no way we can allow any of this tour to be bad. It just can’t be allowed to fail.’ It felt like that tour was a lot about inviting people to experience with us the fun we had on a daily basis. Fortunately, the show went down really well and we felt like we’d done the fans proud – that it wasn’t just a load of hype, that they’d had just as much fun as we’d had on stage.
Talking of proving ourselves, we flew out to the States in February 2012 with very modest expectations. We had just about got used to the idea that fans across Europe knew about One Direction, although that had been a bit of a shock. But we were pretty sure that not many kids out in the States would have a clue who we were. I said to the lads, ‘I’m just excited to be going out there. I’m keen to see what the US is like.’
I think anyone from England is usually pretty excited when they first go to America. The nearest I’d had to that feeling was going to London for The X Factor. The capital seemed such a long way from home, geographically and culturally. It was just so different to the way I was used to living. I’d thought I wouldn’t go to London till I was maybe 30, so that first trip down there was a big deal for me. Well, America is like that, but tenfold. I loved the pure excitement of being somewhere that’s filled with things you’ve only seen in movies and on TV. Still do.
It’s often the case that if someone is big in the US they’re automatically big in Britain, but going the other way across is not so simple. I felt very aware that it was a good time for British acts in America. Adele had completely opened up a gateway out there, which definitely helped, as well as people like Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons, acts like that, who’ve all created an atmosphere that’s really receptive to British music. I’ve no doubt that we got very lucky with the timing of things.
Of course, our amazing fans had already done so much groundwork for us too. The fact that you can have a direct conversation – genuine, direct contact – with someone who you watch on the TV is just an amazing thing. With the States in particular, prior to social media being this big, if you were gonna have a profile over there it would probably involve years and years of massive tours, relentless promo, a real hard slog physically working your way across the country. But in this generation bands can communicate through so many different mediums. It’s an amazing time to be around in that respect, for sure.
We quickly realised there was a good deal of interest in the band from the number of interviews we were doing. Then they eventually had to bring the album release forward a week due to the level of interest. ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ went Top 30 and that ramped it up another level too. We did a signing in a shopping mall and that was just nuts. It was the first one we’d done over there and we didn’t think it’d be that big – even 100 kids would have blown us away – but again those incredible fans supported us in their thousands. Just incredible!
The momentum seemed to snowball from there. The support slot touring with Big Time Rush was a huge plus for us so early on in the States. On the first night I saw someone wearing a One Direction T-shirt and I was like, ‘Lads, that’s a bit weird!’ Then these fans knew all the words to every song. Even if we didn’t dare to believe it, we could kind of feel it.
We finished the tour and had the album coming out soon. Appearing on the Today show was the first massive moment for us in the US. We’d been told it was a prestigious thing to be asked to perform – being a Brit I wasn’t familiar with the show but when we saw the thousands of fans who turned up it was just breathtaking. Some of the streets in New York are so narrow and they were literally filled with this sea of people. To us it just seemed like everywhere you looked there were skyscrapers towering over this mass of faces. There were even people hanging out of the windows of the skyscrapers – it was amazing. At the start of our performance when I shouted, ‘New York City, make some noise!’ the whole place just went completely nuts. What an experience!
Even now, every time we do anything overseas we’re still so surprised by the response. I know people probably think that’s rubbish, because One Direction have had a good amount of international success, but it’s true. I personally still find it a shock when we go abroad and there are thousands of people waiting for us or coming to our shows. It’s still not what I expect when we’re in a different country. Back then you could magnify that feeling a thousand times. We definitely didn’t expect it from somewhere like the US. So you can imagine what an experience the Today show was. Everything about that performance ... there wasn’t one part of that day that wasn’t amazing. That was the first time I’d been to New York as well!
The momentum just kept building and building. During that period, we were playing a show in Nashville and Steve Barnett, who ran our US record label at the time, came into the dressing room and he was like, ‘We think you might get a Number 1 album.’ We were like, ‘What?!’ We’d heard a few conversations when it was discussed but really, to us, that was just talk. People say stuff like that all the time to encourag
e you and keep things positive. The actual thought of being Number 1 in the States with our début album just seemed totally incomprehensible. No other British act had ever done that, so why us?
Then Steve said, ‘It’s close, lads. You might miss it, but if you really want that Number 1 you’re gonna have to work harder than you’ve ever done before.’ There was no question for us. From that moment we worked as hard as we possibly could. We did signings in lunch breaks, promo all over the place, every spare second was used finding another way to push the album. We’d got a chance for that Number 1 and we just went for it.
I knew it would be a big deal if we did top the charts, but I didn’t know how big a deal it was until later on. I don’t think I really took in the scale of our achievement for a while afterwards. It just didn’t hit me what the true significance was. We were so busy promoting and doing shows, all that, so it was hard to associate what we’d achieved with all this talk of other massive British bands who’d done the same. We were so young, we weren’t about to sit back and think about all this history, all this context. Besides, we didn’t have the time. It was amazing, though. It felt like everything we’d done previously was leading up to that point. Just after we all found out, I said to the lads, ‘Getting that Number 1 is a big turning point for us. It’s a big moment.’
In One Direction we’ve always been very proud of the live shows we put on – it’s our chance to perform our records to these amazing fans who’ve put us in the position that we’re in. In a way, we kinda did the process in reverse, certainly in the US anyway. Traditionally, bands would go over there and tour really hard, then put the album out and hope to sell it to people in that way. For us, the tour felt like such a celebration of the success of our album and an opportunity to say thank you. It felt like we’d worked so hard to get there and now we could just have fun every night with all the people who had supported us.