One Direction: Who We Are: Our Official Autobiography

by One Direction

  We were all really keen to get our third album out because we’d been so involved in the writing of that record. Before it came out, though, we had the small matter of releasing our own movie, This Is Us! That was just the best fun. The film crew had followed us on much of that big second album tour, starting off with footage of the multiple O2 shows we’d done. It was pretty mad having cameras around us for that long, but like I said before, we were ‘born’ on a TV show so we’re used to having cameras around, at least when it’s our own film crew. They don’t really annoy you, they were just there ...

  We were really excited about the film because Justin Bieber had done one, Katy Perry had done one and obviously way back the Spice Girls had made one too, so it seemed like a great idea. We tried to be as honest and open as we could for the film crew, and I think the movie is a pretty fair reflection of life in One Direction.

  The première for the movie was the most ridiculous day. In fact I’d go so far as to say the London première might actually be the best day I’ve had in my career to date. Touring Australia and all the madness down there was big. The Verona show on tour when thousands and thousands of people showed up was memorable. The Today show, of course. MSG obviously ... Fortunately it’s a long list of highlights but the film première is right up there.

  First off it was the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen in Leicester Square. We’d been to a few premières before, Harry Potter, Narnia, all that, so we kind of knew what might happen, but I wasn’t expecting the sheer numbers that were there that day. We stood on this platform and the size of the crowd was just ridiculous. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe what I’m seeing!’ It was one of those times when even in the middle of the red carpet we were looking at each other, in a small huddle, saying, ‘Boys, what the hell is going on?!’

  We went into the cinema and Simon Cowell was there, Ben Winston, Morgan Spurlock and various people from Sony and the film company, so we thanked them all. There was a room upstairs with a balcony looking out over Leicester Square, so we stood up there with Simon, he’s in the corner with a fag in his mouth, we’re drinking a few beers and before we knew it, me and Louis had had a few! Then Ronnie Wood came in. Ronnie Wood at our movie première for God’s sake!

  Me and Louis ended up sitting near the back with our families. Ben Winston’s wife cheerily said, ‘I couldn’t hear a word of the film,’ because me and Louis were messing like we were five years old, throwing Maltesers around, laughing at ourselves on the screen, literally like being at the back of class at school. I have a contagious laugh so when I start giggling everyone else starts laughing too, so mostly we spent the time sniggering and being frowned at.

  All joking aside, though, that was a big moment. For me, it was the first time that I said, ‘Crikey, lads, we must be quite famous. This is pretty cool.’ Our own Leicester Square première, a red carpet with our name splattered all over it, huge screens everywhere, DJs, big star names coming out to see this with us. I loved every single second.

  Promoting the third album on 23 November 2013 with 1D Day was a blast. Having our own TV show was immense but it took some doing, hosting that online show for seven hours! The team came up with some amazing ideas and guests, linking up with people in space, Robbie Williams, David Beckham – everyone was getting involved. In typical One Direction style, we were terrible at it. We pretty much blagged it, missing camera cues, fumbling our lines, making stuff up. It was hilarious, but somehow we got through it and people seemed to enjoy the whole day.

  By then we were desperate to get our new album out and heard by our fans. Louis and Liam had over 20 songs written for that record, just through their pure dedication to the cause. It helped that by this point we had a team of songwriters that we really liked and enjoyed working with, and everyone bounced around off each other really well.

  We had always really wanted to get involved as much as we could with the songwriting for our albums, but we just had to wait till the time was right. We’d learned so much from the various producers and songwriters we’d been around on the first two albums, so I’d like to think we did a good job. The pressure was on to deliver a big album too, because now we had two huge-selling records behind us. I think that can only be a good thing because it pushes you on and gives you something to strive for.

  When any new One Direction album is coming out, of course we get nervous because ultimately you don’t know how it’s going to go down. I always say to the lads, ‘All we can do is try and make the record as strong as we can and then look for something good to happen.’ Just before an album’s release we get so anxious to put the record out there, ’cos by then we’ve been living with those songs for months so we just want to get the fans’ reactions.

  Fortunately the fans seemed to like Midnight Memories! The commercial success of that record across so many countries was ridiculous, and hitting Number 1 in that many places was mad. I thought the success of Up All Night had tested my knowledge of geography but this was much more extreme! It meant so much to every single one of us in the band because of the personal nature of the album. We’d made such an effort to stamp our personalities and lives on these songs, so to see this collection of music be so well received around the world was a massive deal for us. We were just delighted.

  There was one challenge just around Christmas 2013 that could’ve threatened to derail the band’s momentum – my serious knee injury. Back in the summer of The X Factor I was playing football on the green with my mates when I put my foot on the ball to drag it back when it suddenly felt like someone had kicked my knee out. I went flying up into the air and when I came back down my kneecap was hanging out. I went to a specialist and he said I had a floating kneecap. After that, the problem kept recurring. So for example, one time I was walking down Oxford Street and when I turned to dodge around someone my knee went again. I just ended up rolling around on the pavement right out in the street. Another time I was playing golf and I suddenly felt like I’d got an electric shock. In all it happened about eight times. Then I dislocated my knee on stage when me and Louis were messing about breakdancing one night. The lads were all trying to help me up off the ground but I was like, ‘I can’t move!’ My face was white and my kneecap was just sticking out in the wrong place!

  I’d started wearing a knee brace for support but it still wasn’t right. It was clear that something needed to be done about the problem, especially now that it had impacted on my stage work. I had some MRIs, then I went to see this fella in the States called Dr Richard Steadman. He took one look at my leg and said, ‘You have the knee of a 35-year-old footballer! I don’t even have to look at your scans to tell you that you need an operation, big time.’ Turns out my alignment was out too, so I really did need help!

  I had a little time off for Christmas, then I went to the States on 4 January for an operation two days later. The surgeon performed a miracle – my knee is now fixed and in theory repaired forever. That said, I’ve a lot of strengthening work to do. When I got back I was lucky enough to be invited to do my rehab at the Chelsea training ground in Surrey. The daughter of José Mourinho (the team’s manager) was a big One Direction fan and she’d previously come to our movie première. Next thing I know I get a text from José saying, ‘I’ve heard about your knee, you’re a good kid, absolutely no problem, come down here, use the facilities, the doctors, physios, whatever you need to get fit.’

  So I started getting up at quarter past six in the morning to sit in traffic for two hours on the M25, on the way to my rehab at Chelsea’s training ground. Before that you’d have struggled to get me out of bed before 1 or 2 in the afternoon. But I was on a mission to get fit for the stadium tour. I spent weeks going down there. At first I honestly assumed I’d be on the sidelines, but every single day I was in with the team. They gave me my own locker in the dressing room and my own kit with my initials on it, all laid out for me in the morning. The physio Steve Hughes looked after me during my seven weeks on crutches, cranking my leg to
get it moving and literally teaching me to walk again. I worked with weighted suits, a treadmill in a swimming pool, all these high-tech gadgets. The bottom line is that without Chelsea’s help there’s no way I’d have made the tour in the shape I was in.

  Every time I met José I was star-struck. Being around him is an incredible experience. He’s so successful, yet he knew every person at that training ground by name and what they did for Chelsea. One day he asked me, ‘Niall, would you perhaps bring in some signed stuff for my daughter?’ So I brought in some perfume, a T-shirt, and some bits and pieces. An hour later as I was leaving the training ground, he came running out and gave me this Chelsea bag with one of his training tops and a pair of his boots in it, signed for me. An absolute legend.

  As I’ve said, the 2013 world tour was ridiculous. The scale of it was hard to take in, so you can imagine how we felt when it was put to us that there was a chance we could play stadiums on the next tour. We were all like, ‘We won’t sell out stadiums, forget that!’ It’s a big jump to go from theatres to arenas and there are plenty of bands who made that move too soon and paid the price. To then go from arenas – say 10–20,000 people – to stadiums filled with as many as 85,000 people is a massive gamble in a lot of ways. Don’t get me wrong. We’re confident of One Direction and we work hard to make the band succeed, but I’m not afraid to admit there was some trepidation when the idea of a stadium tour was first mentioned. We just said, ‘Lads, surely there are much bigger artists out there who can’t do stadiums, so why should we think One Direction can?’

  In typical mad One Direction style, even announcing the stadium tour was nuts. We were working in Europe, then flew into London in the evening, went to Wembley the next morning and did the press conference to announce the tour. Then I think we flew straight back out to Europe for a gig that night! That reminds me. I keep meaning to check my Airmiles statement, I’m sure I should have quite a few by now!

  We were all quite apprehensive when the first day of the ticket sales came around. We know we’ve a big fanbase and we hoped the tour would sell well, but stadiums need to sell such a huge number of tickets. It’s a big challenge. If you sold out a venue of 35,000 people most bands would be pretty pleased, but if you only sell that many for a Wembley Stadium show that’s a relative failure.

  So you can imagine how pleased we were when the ticket sales just blew up! First we heard that the Wembley Show had sold out in super-quick time, then they told us they’d put on another Wembley ... and then another Wembley. Same with Croke Park in Dublin – where I’ve been to see so many shows and matches – with multiple nights there to keep up with demand. It was just the best feeling. How lucky are we?

  The first couple of weeks of any tour are always about getting used to the stage, the set, the whole performance. We rehearse hard, but you’re never totally ready until you get out there in front of a crowd and perform. We always have a bit of a laugh with it too – we improvise, mess about, change parts of the show we don’t enjoy. It can be a long year when you’re out on the road for such an extended time, so switching it around and messing with the format can really help to keep you energised and fresh. That in turn just makes the gigs better for the fans, and that, after all, is the most important point.

  I’m so lucky that I don’t suffer from nerves when I get on stage (as I said earlier, I wish that was the case with TV appearances!). For some reason, performing live to thousands of people just gives me this amazing feeling of security, of comfort. I love every second. We love to have a bit of craic with the crowd and get them involved as much as we can. Once you know the show inside out it just becomes the best buzz every single night, and that’s made all the more enjoyable because of our fantastic fans who really do bring out the best in all of us five lads.

  You never come home from a One Direction show and say it was quiet. It’s always unbelievably loud, the loudest show on the planet. We’ve actually done a decibel reading on it and measured 145 decibels in an arena – that’s about the same level of noise as a NASA space shuttle taking off indoors. Honest to God.

  I love it out there, and performing live is the best part of what we do. I do feel much more comfortable when I’ve got a guitar in my hand. I don’t know why that is. I think it helps on stage generally too – everyone can be involved in the band. All the boys might come over to me, dance around, and the band can join in. It seems to create a sense of camaraderie.

  When I think about how we’re doing our own stadium tour around the world, it messes with my head. This is what I do this crazy job for – the thought of stepping out in front of tens of thousands of people every night gives me goosebumps. Unbelievable! Someone asked me just before the first show what I felt like and I said, ‘I’ve never been so excited about anything in all my life.’

  Being in One Direction has given me so much. The experiences I’ve had in this band are so incredible it’s only when I sit back and work on something like this book that I can even begin to comprehend what an amazing time we’ve had. Hopefully people still enjoy watching us live and listening to our records, so maybe now, finally, I can see that those kids who came third in The X Factor have lasted more than six months. We’ve done all right, haven’t we?

  We were sitting at home one moment and then suddenly our lives changed forever, and here we are now. Maybe that’s what people like about us. There’s a sense of fun and a feeling that maybe in some way we’re just normal lads who blagged it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not underestimating the hard work we’ve put in, the massive effort of our team and everyone involved in this band – there have been some serious amounts of work put in. Yet from day one we just wanted to be ourselves, have a great time, work hard and see where it took us.

  No one knew this was going to happen. Even Simon Cowell is shocked at the scale of the band’s success. You couldn’t have ever predicted or imagined what’s happened with One Direction in the last few years. I’ve been around the world with the lads and we have quite a few crazy times still ahead of us, no doubt. But do you know what? I’m still mad into this band.

  I guess my family would say I was a little bit of a show-off as a kid. From an early age my mum always thought I’d ‘entertain’ in some way. When I was at school I hadn’t really decided exactly what it was I wanted to do, but I knew I really enjoyed performing and even at quite a young age got a real buzz from it. I think I was quite well behaved at school – well, maybe a bit cheeky with teachers but I don’t think I was that naughty!

  I always wanted to do well and definitely felt a sense of drive – maybe you could call it ambition, I don’t know. I don’t think I was necessarily that aware of the feeling at that point, it was just a sense that I wanted to succeed when I grew up. My parents were amazingly supportive – Mum would say, ‘Harry, just get out there, have a go. If you don’t even try how will you know if you could have done it? This is your dream we’re talking about – we’re behind you every step of the way.’ They’ve always helped me try to achieve that.

  In terms of my upbringing, I’m very lucky that my parents brought me up in the way that they did. I was always taught that everyone is equal, and it doesn’t matter if you have a good job or not, or whether you earn a load of money or hardly any at all – it doesn’t make a difference. My parents are incredible and support me in whatever I want to do. I’m not sure anything could have prepared me for what has happened in One Direction, but I do think those core values that my parents taught me have helped me to keep a sense of perspective on what has gone on. If I have kids some time in the future I’ll absolutely want them to go and do better than me, as you’ll always want the best for your kids. On top of that, I think any parent wants their kids to do something they love. I’m incredibly fortunate that I get to do something that I love that just doesn’t feel like a job.

  I look back on the whole X Factor experience and I mainly think how incredibly young I was. It’s hard to comprehend, really – I was literally just a kid. I’ll always
be so grateful for that programme and the opportunity it gave me. The X Factor has had such a huge impact on my life and I have no problem acknowledging the fact that I have that show to thank for being able to do what I do in this band. The show gave us that chance – yes, we took that opportunity and we’ve worked incredibly hard to make the most of it, but The X Factor just opened that door right at the beginning.

  Because I was young and really quite inexperienced, I learned a huge amount in a short space of time. In some ways, The X Factor prepared us for life in One Direction. As we progressed in the show, a lot of people outside of the programme were saying we’d definitely get through each week and furthermore that we’d get a record deal for sure; all this stuff can feel like a lot of pressure and if you’re not careful that can mess with your head. Luckily for us, there are a lot of great people involved with the show who kept us from getting carried away, allowed us to take our time and supported us through each week. They were really good at keeping us grounded. I remember one of the producers saying to us, ‘Just take it one week at a time, don’t listen to all the gossip you hear going on around you, keep working hard and stay focused.’ Then as soon as we got off the show, it felt like there was even more hype. But by this point I felt like we were more prepared for that, and we knew to take things with a pinch of salt. With everything that has happened since those very early days on The X Factor, that measured start has always given us some perspective and a few tools to cope with the process. In terms of workload, the show is pretty intense too, so that also instilled a work ethic in us that would stand us in good stead.