Music Review: One Direction "What Makes You Beautiful"

One Direction

What Makes You Beautiful

Album: Up All Night

Year: 2011

       Harry Styles, the face of One Direction, tries to boost his girlfriend’s confidence in the  bighearted “What Makes You Beautiful.”

           A genial guitar opens the single, setting a buoyant tone. Liam Payne has the first verse. His girlfriend is always comparing herself to the popular girls. She sees their expensive clothes, manicured nails, and flowing tresses of hair that could belong in a L’Oreal commercial and believes she is ugly. However, when they walk down the hallway together, he spots several guys (usually from the basketball and football teams) checking her out. Every so often, they will run errands. When they are at the cosmetic aisle, he watches her examine the content of every shade and dismiss it because she thinks it’s won’t look good on her. He thinks she’s naturally pretty and has flawless. Caking on the makeup will only ruin her face. (“You're insecure/Don't know what for/
You're turning heads when you walk through the door/Don't need make-up/To cover up/Being the way that you are is enough.”)

      Styles has the pre-chorus. He and his friends agree that she’s hot. But they can’t convince her. She’ll hear a compliment and shrug it off. (“Everyone else in the room can see it/Everyone else but you.”)

        In the chorus, he tells her she makes him happy. She has a habit of whenever her hair gets in her face, she flicks it back. She does it in such an unassuming way he can’t help but focus on her. She’s shy and when he stares at her, she puts her head down, unable to handle the attention. She’s considerate, kind to his parents, and generous. It’s those qualities which attracted to him to her. Her modesty is her standout trait. (“Baby you light up my world like nobody else/The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed/But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell/You don't know/Oh, oh/You don't know you're beautiful/
If only you saw what I can see/You'd understand why I want you so desperately/Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe/You don't know/Oh, oh/You don't know you're beautiful/Oh, oh/That's what makes you beautiful.”)

       Zayn Malik has the second verse. They are eating lunch together at lunch when she tells him what happened in English class. Her teacher said her essay on “To Kill A Mockingbird” was the best out of the entire class and asked to her lead the class discussion on it. She’s freaking out and downplaying her accomplishment by saying she just did the assignment like she was told. In that moment, he decides to write a song about her, explaining to her she is worthy of adulation. (“So come on/You got it wrong/To prove I'm right/I put it in a song/I don't know why/You're being shy/And turn away when I look into your eye eye eyes.”)

            The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

          In the bridge, they “na na” for about thirty seconds before Styles starts his section. In it, he repeats of parts of the second verse and the chorus. (“ Baby you light up my world like nobody else..but when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell/you don't know…you don’t know you’re beautiful.”)

              The chorus is sung again.

              At the end, Styles says “that’s what makes you beatiful” closing the single.

        One Direction’s patient, soothing vocals are toothsome. They are the perfect first boyfriend girls wish the boys in their classes would be. The only exception is Malik who thinks it’s a rap song and is seemingly annoyed to be well-behaved. .  

        The supportive “What Makes You Beautiful” sweeps off the feet, causing massive swooning.