"Midnight Memories" is a third single by the English-Irish boy band One Direction from their third studio album of the same name. It is the fourth track of the album. The song is available on all editions.
It was co-written by Julian Bunetta, Jamie Scott, John Ryan, band members Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson and written samples "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard.
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.
It debuted at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and then dropped off. When it dropped off the charts, it became the 5th biggest drop off the Hot 100 with two other songs.
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. | ” |
–Payne about the song | ||
In various promotional interviews during 2015, Louis said "Midnight Memories" was one of his proudest achievements because he and Liam worked the hardest to perfect the sound and writing.
As they were writing the song, the chorus wasn't quite finished, so while they worked on it they substituted "I love KFC" for what would later become the words "midnight memories", and the words "chicken, chicken" for what would end up being "singing, singing".[1]
The song's chorus resembles the chorus to Def Leppard's song "Pour Some Sugar on Me". Legal action was considered, but a studio recording of the band writing the song shows it was an original effort.
Recording Midnight Memories
Everyday from January 26, 2014, at 4 pm GMT (11 am EST), they released a GIF on Facebook and Twitter taken from the music video building up to Friday the 31st when the whole music video was released at 4 pm GMT.
Trailers and Extras[]
On January 29th and 30th, 2014, the first and second trailer were released respectively. The first behind the scenes video was released on February 7, 2014 at 4 pm. The following 3 were released everyday until February 10th at 4 pm everyday.
Music Video[]
| Music Video | Information | |
|---|---|---|
|
Released | January 31, 2014 |
| Length | 3:20 | |
| Director | Ben Winston | |
| Production Co | ||
| Choreographer | ||
| Filmed | December 28, 2013 | |
| Location | London | |
| VEVO views | 144,220,514 (as of June 30, 2017) | |
On November 11, 2015, the Midnight Memories music video was Vevo Certified after passing 100 million views. It became the band's fourteenth music video to be certified.[1]
Lyrics[]
1, 2, 3
[Harry]
Straight off the plane to a new hotel
Just touched down, you could never tell
Big house party with a crowded kitchen
People talk shh but we don't listen
[Louis]
Tell me that I'm wrong but I do what I please
Way too many people in the Addison Lee,
Now I'm at the age where I know what I need, oh whoa
[Zayn]
Midnight memories, oh, oh, oh
Baby you and me
Stumbling in the street
Singing, singing, singing, singing
Midnight memories, oh oh oh
Anywhere we go
Never say no
Just do it, do it, do it, do it
[Liam]
5 foot something with the skinny jeans
Don't look back baby follow me
[Niall]
I don't know where I'm going but I'm finding my way
Same old shh, but a different day
[Louis]
Tell me that I'm wrong but I do what I please
Way too many people in the Addison Lee
Now I'm at the age where I know what I need, oh whoa
[Zayn]
Midnight memories, oh, oh, oh
Baby you and me
Stumbling in the street
Singing, singing, singing, singing
Midnight memories, oh oh oh
Anywhere we go
Never saying no
Just do it, do it, do it
[Niall]
You and me and all our friends
I don't care how much we spend
Baby this is what the night is for
[Harry]
I know nothing's making sense
For tonight let's just pretend
I don't wanna stop so give me more
[All led by Zayn + Zayn]
Midnight memories, oh, oh, oh
Baby you and me (me)
Stumbling in the street (street)
Singing, singing, singing, singing
Midnight memories, oh oh oh
Anywhere we go (go)
Never saying no (no)
Just do it, do it, (yeah!) do it, do it
Performances[]
Live:[]
| Date | Event | Watch | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | |||
| November 25 | iHeart Radio Release | 
|
United States |
| November 26 | Good Morning America |
|
United States |
| December 15 | X Factor UK |
|
United Kingdom |
| December 19 | X Factor USA |
|
United States |
2014[]
- May 24 - BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend
- September 23 - IHeartRadio Festival
Tracklisting[]
| Midnight Memories - EP (March 9, 2014) | |||
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