As one of the major features in the favourites video I was meant to put up today (it is going to have to wait as I have awoken with a puffy face due to what I assume is some kind of allergic reaction to the eternal suffering of life) was love of my life One Direction, I thought I'd finally do something I should have done a long time ago and fang together my take on their most recent feat of musicality, Four.
Steal My Girl
Obviously love it. This is what got me really excited for
the album. I liked Fireproof but I didn’t love it, so I was apprehensive, but
as soon as the percussion came in during the intro I was done. This was the
Kiss You. The Diana. The moment when my heart knew it could be at peace. I have
definitely mentioned this in some context before – maybe in my January playlist
post – but the piano in this reminds me of the alcoholic musical director’s
impromptu solo during Century Plant in CAMP. I do this weird sassy head bobble
during the verses and when da chorus drop so does everything else. Best
listened to very loud.
Ready To Run
I’ve never really paid much attention to this one tbh. The
start is a bit too troubled-cowboy-wandering-through-the-desert-squinting-angstily-at-artistically-placed-animal-skulls
for me so I don’t usually make it to the chorus. Chorus is pretty good tho when
I do get there. It reminds me of something that would play during a Biggest
Loser montage or maybe The Amazing Race. I feel like I would enjoy this on a
road trip or a tram ride on a day that I was feeling particularly adventurous.
My favourite part is at about 2:19 when Harry (or maybe Zayn I literally can
not tell and it is destroying me and making me question everything I thought I
knew) does a vocal run straight out of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.
Where Do Broken Hearts Go?
In my experience the answer is to bed, the floor to cry, out to drink a lot or
Indonesia. Realities aside, this song was a gamechanger. I preordered the album (obviously) so
I got the five songs released beforehand and the day this one came out was
maybe the best day ever. This has a very power-ballad-stadium feel, and I am
ALL ABOUT THAT, MY FRIENDS, ALL ABOUT THAT. HOW TO FIX UP A HEART THAT I LET
DOWN. Soz that just happened and I thought I should type it as I yell-sang.
WHERE DO BROKEN HEARTS GO? This is just a jam. Simple as that. The little
clappy-sound bit before the chorus properly comes back after the bridge is a
treat.
18
This reminds me of my ex boyfriend in a really unsettling
way so I do not listen to it.
Girl Almighty
As soon as this song starts I am bobbing. I am bobbing along
like nobody’s business. I change the phrase “girl almighty” to “girl called
Maddi” and voila, an anthem to me. LET’S HAVE ANOTHER TOAST TO THE GIRL CALLED
MADDI, YALL. I have absolutely no clue what they are actually trying to say in
the verses here but I also do not care. Big balloon, ambulance, save that
saviour for sho. At the concert they made us clap along real fast with the “Am
I the only believer” bit and it was charmingly interactive. Always happy to
clap for Zayn. I’d get down on my knees for u. :)
Fool’s Gold
This one hit me right in the heart, soul and stomach when it
came out, friends. I feel the sentiment of “yes I let you use me from the day
we met, but I’m not done yet” is one we can all identify with on some level,
and back in ye olde November when this was new to my life it was more relevant
than maybe ever. Didn’t make me sad though. It’s like ‘hello yes I realise I am
making some very stupid choices right about now, I am aware, but the heart
wants what the hearts wants and the heart is an idiot but I’m still going to go
with it.’ It also reminds me of watching ships out on the ocean, which is the
most calming activity in the world to me so this is a very peaceful little
ditty in my mind. I can, however, also see it being very depressing for someone
else so live your own life, make your own choices.
The lads go on an adventure
Night Changes
When this first came out it messed me up pretty bad. It was
a less comical, more gutwrenching version of that bit in Legally Blonde when
Elle and Warner have just broken up and some guy on a show says something and
she yells LIAR and throws her chocolate at the TV. Basically I would hear the
line “even when the night changes it will never change me and you” and want to
throw up so no, I was not hecka pleased when they decided to chuck it out there
as a single. However, I consciously desensitised myself to it by playing it on
repeat until my response progressed to merely “DON’T MAKE PROMISES YOU CAN’T
KEEP”, and finally “I can jam to dis”, where we currently reside. It reminds me
a bit of a steam train though, in that it just kind of chugs along at a steady
pace. Not a thrill, not a bore.
No Control
Was not bothered about this until recently, but now I feel
it is well suited to sitting on one’s bed jamming whilst on the computer whence
in a very good mood. I genuinely don’t know why I keep using the word “jamming”
but there really doesn’t seem to be anything I can do about it today. Also
“Waking up beside you I’m a loaded gun.” Aiight lads. Subtle.
Fireproof
I always forget this song happened. I like it though. Got a
similar vibe to Night Changes but this is more of the express train to Leeds
rather than a coal-powered choochoo through the Scottish Highlands, if u
get me.
Main bae being main bae
Spaces
Nah. Reminds me of a Coldplay song I would have pretended to
like in year 8. Fiona and I think of this song as being about them as a group
and imagine them all sitting around on their car bonnets in a parking lot
having a final debrief as a band and saying goodbye after they’ve broken up
getting ready to drive away for the last time and we decided the order that
they would all leave in and it was a really upsetting conversation but it’s
their own fault for naming their album ‘Four’ when there are five of them. I do like that little bit near the end where they harmonise though. More of that.
Stockholm Syndrome
I did not care for this at all when it first came out but
recently it has become my JAM WHY DO I KEEP SAYING JAM GOD DAMN IT BUT IT IS. It
reminds me a bit of Flashdance, mixed with Sting. I imagine someone in a
unitard on a stage doing that weird dance move where they kind of
half-walk-half-kick to one side and do like a cat hand. Do you know what I
mean? Doesn’t matter, cos I do.
Clouds
Another one that I didn’t take much notice of either, but
then they opened the concert with it which I thought was an odd choice but
other people do seem to like it a lot. It reminds me of a day in my life which
was very nice so I do have a certain fondness for it on that level but it also
reminds me of like maybe Kings of Leon? I don’t know, I don’t listen to Kings
of Leon but I find the instrumentation slightly overwhelming at points. I can
imagine myself going through a phase with this if I were in Europe though.
All dressed up and nowhere to go!
Change Your Ticket
I love this song. As the undisputed queen of long distance
relationships and outsourcing my love life (this shit goes back further than
you know) it reminds me of many a moment and lad. The first time I heard it it
hurt my soul a little bit but I battled through it and now it’s just a solid
jam. Also reminds me a bit of The 1975, which works for and against it in equal
measure depending on how emotionally fragile I am feeling on any given day. It reminds me of two mornings about six months apart involving backpacks.
Let’s get more vague, Maddi. Give it a whirl.
Let’s get more vague, Maddi. Give it a whirl.
Illusion
Yes. Yes. Yes. Several rounds of yes. The moment this song
started I knew I was going to be obsessed with it because it sounded like a
harmonised 80s power ballad and those two things are my biggest musical
weaknesses. Throw in a keychange and I’m done. The percussion in the chorus
reminds me of rollerskating for some reason with a really funky ass lighting
show. So TELL ME YOU BELIEVE IN LOVE I will literally tell you whatever you
want me to, Zayn. There is a level of hilarity added when you start listening
to the lyrics with the mindset that it was written by that guy from Pitch
Perfect who is super into close-up magic.
Once In A Lifetime
I don’t have time for this to be perfectly honest. It’s like
if Spaces had a baby with the start of Ready to Run and it for some reason
makes me feel like I’m drowning in tar in front of Pride Rock.
Probably my new phone background
Act My Age
You can just tell this was written to give Niall something
to do one day. Doesn’t act as a very good omen when paired with the fact that
they named the album Four, and I must admit this was very interwoven with the
aforementioned car park conversation revolving around Spaces, but I do very
much enjoy it. It reminds me of the scene in the movie where they’re sitting
around the campfire talking about what life’s going to be like after 1D and
Liam’s just so excited about having a family and Harry’s decided to wear his
shirt as an innovative little headband and you get sad but also really excited about the fact
that one day they won’t be as famous and will therefore probably marry you.
However, this has created a great internal conflict for me because now I can’t decided
whether at their last ever concert I want them to stick to my original plan of
finishing with WMYB and then Torn, like going back to the start, or if I want
them to sing this to leave on an optimistic note so like thanks for that. Thanks for crushing my plans and
throwing my life into disarray.
One Direction: Behind The Photo Shoot bonus video
Zayn is hot. Still want to adopt Harry and Niall and give
them a room with bunk beds and maybe a nice mural of a forest on one wall.
My tiny sons
