Wednesday, September 26, 2012

NEW SINGLE AND VIDEO: One Direction - Live While We're Young



If you still haven’t heard this song then you either a) refuse to listen to One Direction or 2) don’t listen to the radio – either way, you’re reading this review, so hopefully you pressed play and listened to it before you read this – if not, it’s all good, read on.


Pre-Order: iTunes / 1D Website
(Release Date: Friday, 28th September)

This song, in a nutshell, epitomises both these acronyms: “YOYO” – “you’re only young once” and “YOLO” – “you only live once”. “YOYO” because of the title and the theme of the video clip, while “YOLO” is found in the lyrics of the chorus. Positives about this song include the upbeat tempo with it’s light-hearted lyrics and I have to say, after hearing it twice on BBC Radio 1, it was so catchy that I was singing already the chorus at 2am while I was waiting for the video release.

Although it’s a song that I have on repeat and really like singing along to (and occasionally belting out), it’s nothing new. It’s like they took the format (i.e. the delegation of the lyrics as well as the musical arrangement) of What Makes You Beautiful and combined it with One Thing to reproduce a hybrid version of the two. I’m not saying that this is wrong – I mean What Makes You Beautiful did VERY well and One Thing, in my opinion, is still their best video clip from their first album – I’m just saying it wasn’t worth all the hype that people had placed on it – or me staying up. I’m also concerned with the lyrics that seem to contradict each other and are almost borderline inappropriate. (Pre-warning, if you hate it when people read into things, stop reading now!)

In the first verse, Liam sings, “Hey girl I’m waiting on you…come on and let me sneak you out,” but in the chorus they sing, “I know we only met but let’s pretend it’s love.” I mean, if you’re going to sneak a girl, how on earth will that happen if you just met? Well, I guess it worked for Romeo and Juliet - maybe that’s what the writers are going for? You know, “young love” and sporadic impulses – even a hasty marriage, but they’re just pretending, so I guess it’s more like Bruno Mars’, I Wanna Marry You. I’m also not sure if I would say, “Tonight let’s ‘get some’ and live while we’re young,” I mean that just sounds like they’re saying, “Let’s do it, because YOYO.” I don’t know maybe it’s just me, but that arrangement just sounds like – with lack of a better description – a booty call. But I’m open (and hoping) that maybe when 1D say, “let’s get some” they really mean, “let’s just do all the fun stuff that we can, because we’re only young once.” I’m going to choose to believe that this is what they mean when they sing it.

Overall it’s a great party song and I genuinely to like it, but it’s nothing new – and obviously I have an issue with the overall message that they’re trying to put across. I just think, if you’re going to recycle a format – in both the lyrical and musical arrangement – then it’s the message that matters. And I hate to say this, but it’s that one line that really mixes what they’re trying to bring across. I get that the boys are all adults and what they choose to sing/say is appropriate to some personal degree, but, for me it’s just too suggestive within it’s lyrical context. Like I said, I’m hoping that that’s not what they mean, but I do understand if that’s how other people will interpret it. To end on a positive note, the video clip epitomises all the members of One Direction. It’s a lot more vibrant than their previous video clips, which is nice and the song in itself, like One Thing, show cases ALL their voices – which is a great sign for their upcoming second album, Take Me Home.

sL Star Rating:

Song: 3
Video: 5

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