One Direction Give Preview of New Album ‘Take Me Home’

While the rest of us have to wait until next month to hear One Direction’s sophomore album Take Me Home, U.K. newspaper The Sun got a preview of it over the past week.

What do we know so far? Take Me Home has 13 tracks and retains their debut’s pop character. But, there’s some minor variation – specially, a little bit of dance (to compete with The Wanted?) and some folk sounds. The latter is attributed to Ed Sheeran’s contributions, which include two tracks. The Sun also indicated that several songs have hit potential written all over them.

The new album, according to the group, is “more meaningful,” with more of a live sound than their debut. Although accounts of the vibe have ranged from darker to not all that different, the band members have mentioned they’re not aiming for a release that’s drastically different from their debut. After all, their first release came out just a year ago overseas and earlier in 2012 in the U.S.

New tracks, on the other hand, are more promising. “Live While We’re Young” essentially picks up where “What Makes You Beautiful” ended up, and “Little Things,” which came out more recently, is one of Sheeran’s contributions. Niall Horan teased the video clip today.

On the other hand, new music and strong tracks might not mean the band will stick around for long. Horan previously told The Mirror: "We want to be like Take That or Gary Barlow - take 10 years out, and then come back.”