1D has struck 1B once more. One Direction’s “Night Changes” music video has received over a billion views on YouTube more than ten years after it was first released, making it the band’s fourth such video to achieve the milestone.
The music video for “Night Changes,” which was directed by Ben Winston and released in November 2014, allowed fans to imagine what it would be like to fulfill a lifelong ambition for many of them: go on a date with one or all of the band members. Viewers were given the impression that they were sitting by a warm fire with Niall Horan, strolling through a fair with Liam Payne, riding shotgun beside Louis Tomlinson, ice skating with Harry Styles, and dining at a classy restaurant with Zayn Malik thanks to the first-person point of view shots.
Each of the guys’ “dates” comically starts to go awry as they sing the soothing lyrics to the popular song in the music video. A road cop pulls Tomlinson over and arrests him, Horan unintentionally burns his sweater sleeve, Styles hurts himself and his love interest with a foolish move on the ice, a disgruntled ex throws spaghetti on Malik’s head, and Payne throws up in his date’s hat after becoming too lightheaded on a spinning fair ride.
“Baby, we’re just growing older. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. Does the speed at which the night changes ever drive you crazy?” As the mood of the video swiftly shifts from amorous to disastrous, the five sings in unison.
“Night Changes,” a single taken from 1D’s fourth studio album, Four, is regarded as a mainstay in the boy band’s discography. Among the many top 40 singles One Direction had between their 2010 debut and their 2016 breakup, the song peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100.
As heartbroken Directioners went through their discography in the wake of Payne’s death last October, many of the lads’ songs saw an increase in streaming, but “Night Changes” was the tune that fans rushed to the most. In the days following the “Strip That Down” singer’s tragic fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, the track’s playback increased by 416%, re-entering the Billboard Global 200 at No. 117 and the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart at No. 95.
Watch the music video for “Night Changes” above and share your thoughts with over a billion others.
