Music Review: One Direction "Story Of My Life"

One Direction

Story of My Life

Album: Midnight Memories

Year: 2013

          Harry Styles experiences yet another heartbreak in the savvy “Story of My Life.”

      A lamenting guitar opens the single, setting a studious  tone. Styles start the first verse. On a board hanging up in his room are pictures. His favorite is in the middle. In it, a brunette girl snuggles into his arms. He had shown her the picture later and at first, she told him to delete it. However, she later admitted to him that she liked it. He would wait for her after class. He would call right away to see how she did on a test. But a month later, she was telling him she did ok and say she had to go. She rushed out of the classroom and he had to run to keep with her. (“Written in these walls are the stories that I can't explain/I leave my heart open but it stays right here empty for days.”)

            Liam Payne continues how he remembers how she broke up with him under the stairwell before classes began for the day. She said she liked him but only as a friend.  Every girl he has ever been interested in or gone out with for a while has said it to him. He will forever be known as the best guy friend. (“She told me in the morning she don't feel the same about us in her bones/It seems to me that when I die these words will be written on my stone.”)

            In the pre-chorus, Zayn Malik will out of school, backpack over his shoulders, alone again. He chides himself for being clingy and not picking up on the signs that the girls aren’t into him anymore.  (“And I'll be gone gone tonight/The ground beneath my feet is open wide/The way that I been holdin' on too tight/With nothing in between.”)

              In the chorus, Styles says he like the car rides back to their house. They make stupid jokes and laugh. They hold hands or kiss between traffic lights. They all say that he was raised to be a gentleman and the type of man who would put her needs above his own. (“The story of my life I take her home/I drive all night to keep her warm and time/Is frozen (the story of, the story of)/The story of my life I give her hope/I spend her love until she's broke inside/The story of my life (the story of, the story of.”)

          Niall Horan starts the second verse. Blue and grey taint the pictures. Nearly every girl has rejected him. The others he tries to get to know blow him off. He isn’t given the chance to love. (“Written on these walls are the colors that I can't change/Leave my heart open but it stays right here in its cage.”)

             Payne continues that while he walks to school, he’ll look back at the hill and see them running and laughing. He cried all night and will likely do so for awhile. However, he believes there is someone out there who will love him in return. (“I know that in the morning/I'll see us in the light upon the hill/Although I am broken, my heart is untamed still.”)

            In the second pre-chorus, Louis Tomlinson won’t let the numerous rejections stop him from trying again.  (“And I'll be gone gone tonight/The fire beneath my feet is burning bright/The way that I been holdin' on so tight/With nothing in between.”)

            The chorus is sung again.

          In the bridge, a girl gives him some candy and asks him about his day. He gives her an appreciative smile. He’d wanted someone to talk to about the mundane details of his life and take an interest. It was an elusive conversation, one he imagined in his mind but didn’t get a chance to live. Finally, it’s his turn to have his first love and get the happy ending. (“And I been waiting for this time to come around/But baby running after you is like chasing the clouds.”)

            In the final chorus, Horan starts it and they all join in towards the middle to end the single. (“The story of my life I take her home/I drive all night to keep her warm and time/Is frozen/The story of my life I give her hope (give her hope)/I spend her love until she's broke inside (until she's broke inside)/The story of my life (the story of, the story of)/The story of my life/The story of my life (the story of, the story of)/The story of my life

           One Direction’s forlorn vocals dwell on what repulsive quality could be turning women off. Nonetheless, they wonder if a girl will ever love them. They are a unit, forming a cohesive whole with one common goal: be taken seriously.

           The blossoming “Story of My Life” thrives in its adulthood, shedding its adolescent swagger.