New One Direction Album Expected to be Heavier

When you’re a boy band, just about how dark and heavy can your sound go before you alienate fans? In a recent update, One Direction’s Niall Horan revealed the British pop group is taking such an approach. After their cheery debut, Up All Night, which produced hit single “What Makes You Beautiful,” is such a move a good idea?

Over the past week, member Louis Tomlinson revealed their sophomore album’s title through a Twitter hashtag: #takemehome. From there, fans pretty much went crazy at the news, tweeting the hashtag every 18 seconds. Tomlinson said, at the time: "Can't wait for you to hear it! More news soooon!"

The “more news” came from Horan, when speaking with Ryan Seacrest. Horan revealed Take Me Home will be darker, with more guitars, but will not differ drastically from their debut. He told Seacrest: “We’ve been very, very happy about it, because we’re obviously nervous – the second album you never know what you’re going to get from it. […] But we’re really excited about it. It’s really fun, very heavy on guitars and drums, so we’re super excited about it.”

One Directon’s sophomore effort is expected to appear in the fall, preceded by single “Live While We’re Young” in October. The bulk of Home was recorded over the summer and includes guest appearances from Ed Sheeran and Tom Fletcher and production from Dr. Luke. Although the Brit boy band’s debut dropped in November 2011, it hit stateside early in 2012. Assuming Take Me Home does not experience a series of delays, it will be their second album this year.