“Story of My Life” |
|
|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| Album | |
| Released |
October 28, 2013 |
| Format |
Digital download |
| Length |
4:05 |
| Writers |
Julian Bunetta, Jamie Scott, John Ryan, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik |
| Producer |
Julian Bunetta, John Ryan. |
Story of My Life (often abbreviated to SOML) is the second single from One Direction's third studio album Midnight Memories. It was released on October 28, 2013. A radio staple, the song garnered unprecedented critical and public acclaim due to the more serious tone and indie-pop sound. It was a top 3 single in the UK and Australia, and a top 10 single in the United States. It is considered one of One Direction's most famous and recognizable songs.
The song was performed on the Where We Are Tour, the On The Road Again Tour, and on Harry Styles: Live On Tour 2017.
Lyrically, the song describes a bad relationship the narrator cannot leave. The phrase "story of my life" is used in everyday speech to describe a regular negative occurrence.
Background[]
Louis tweeted an unseen photo from his childhood [1] on October 10, 2013, followed by Liam[2]. Niall tweeted his photo next[3], then Harry [4] and finally, Zayn [5]. The official One Direction account then confirmed[6] the new single and release date along with the hashtag "#StoryOfMyLifeSingle2". Later the same day, the single artwork was revealed.[7]
Gallery[]
On October 21, 2013, the band asked the fans through twitter to make "The 1D Family", "Would like to hear" "#StoryOfMyLife16secClip" and "NOW PLEASE" the top 4 trends in order to get an exclusive 16 second clip of the single.[8] Even though the challenge was not completed, the clip was shared several minutes later.[9][10] The full song was released on October 25, 2013.[11]
On October 24, 2013, it was revealed that there would be an exclusive clip of "Little Things" live in concert that would be included on the track and a soundcloud of the track was also posted[12].
On October 25, 2013, the boys did interviews on various radio stations worldwide. They were as follows:
- Louis was on Swedish radio station "NJR" at 6:30am BST (7:30am CEST)[13] and Dutch radio station "3FM" at 6:45am BST (7:45am CEST).
- Zayn was on Danish radio station "The Voice" at 3:30pm BST (4:30pm CEST)[14] and Spanish radio station "Los 40 Principales" at 6:00pm BST (7:00pm CEST)[15].
- Liam was on a Dutch radio station, German radio station "swr3" and UK radio station "BBC Radio 1" at 3:45pm BST[16].
- Niall was on French radio "NJR"[17] and UK radio show "Capital FM" at 4pm BST[18].
- Harry was on Brazillian radio station "Radio Mix"[19] and UK radio station "The Hits Radio"[20].
One Direction were on tour in Australia for the Take Me Home Tour when "Story Of My Life" was released, meaning the interviews were conducted via telephone or pre-recorded.
The song premiered at 4pm on stations worldwide such as BBC Radio 1 (UK), The Hits Radio (UK), In:Demand (UK), Captial FM (UK ), The End 107.9 FM (USA), NRJ Radio (in both France and Sweden), Planet Radio (Germany), Radio Mix (Brazil), SiriusXM Hits (America ) and many others. The audio for the song was also uploaded onto the official One Direction Vevo account as well as the official One Direction Youtube account[21].
The song was released on Monday October 28th to those who had either bought the EP or had pre ordered the deluxe or the normal edition of Midnight Memories. The official One Direction YouTube account released a message from the band announcing the single release[22]. They song went straight to number 1 on iTunes in 47 countries such as the UK, US, Australia, Belgium, India, Mexico and many other places.
On Saturday, July, 5, 2020, in honor of the bands 10 year anniversary a 4k version of Story Of My Life was released.
Trailers[]
The countdown to the music video release began with 3 days before with the release of the first trailer on October 31, 2013 called "One Direction - Story of My Life (3 days to go)". It was posted onto the one direction youtube account and featured a few seconds from the video of each member, Liam, Niall, Zayn, Louis and Harry, respectively.
The next trailer was posted on November 1st called "One Direction - Story of My Life (2 days to go)".
The final trailer was posted on November 2nd called "One Direction - Story of My Life (1 day to go)".
One Direction - Story of My Life (1 day to go)
Lyrics[]
[Harry]
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]
She told me in the morning she don't feel the same about us in her bones
Seems to me that when I die these words will be written on my stone
[Zayn]
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
[Harry]
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)
[All]
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]
Written on these walls are the colors that I can't change
Leave my heart open but it stays right here in its cage
[Liam]
I know that in the morning now I see us in the light upon a hill
Although I am broken, my heart is untamed, still
[Louis]
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
[Harry]
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)
[All]
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)
[Zayn]
And I been waiting for this time to come around
But baby running after you is like chasing the clouds
[Niall]
The story of my life
I take her home
I drive all night
To keep her warm
And time is frozen
[All]
The story of my life
I give her hope (give her hope)
I spend her love
Until she's broke (until she's broke inside)
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)
[Harry]
The story of my life
Music video[]
| Music Video | Information | |
|---|---|---|
|
Released | November 03, 2013 |
| Length | 4:08 | |
| Director | Ben Winston | |
| Production Co | ||
| Choreographer | ||
| Filmed | August 31, 2013 | |
| Location | London, England | |
| VEVO views | 604,105,348 (as of October 2, 2017) | |
On 1 November 2013, the music video was accidentally uploaded early to Vevo. The official release was on November 3, 2013. The video strays from the song content, in that it takes the title phrase literally rather than metaphorically. It featured each band member reliving their life stories, including childhood memories, and interacting with the family members within beloved photographs. The video features One Direction's actual family members, specifically Liam's parents and sister, Zayn's sister, Niall's brother, Harry's mother and Louis's grandparents (paternal and maternal). As the family shown within the photographs morph into their current selves, Louis's allude to two of his grandparents deaths.
Fans attempted to break the record for "Most number of views in 24 hours" which was then held by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" music video which had 19.3 million views in 24 hours. The music sharing site VEVO said that the system had crashed due to the high volume of traffic sometime in the 24 hour period and it took nearly 3 days before it was announced that Story Of My Life had received 12.5 million views in 24 hours[23] which meant the record was still held by Miley Cyrus[24]. They did comment that it received more views than "Best Song Ever" which had 12.3 million views in 24 hours, thus beating a personal record for One Direction.
Live Performances[]
Live[]
| Date | Event | Watch | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | |||
| November 21 | X Factor USA | 
|
United States |
| November 23 | X Factor UK | United Kingdom | |
| November 24 | American Music Awards |
|
United States |
| November 26 | Good Morning America |
|
United States |
| December 12 | X Factor Italy | Italy | |
2014[]
- September 23 - IHeartRadio Music Festival
- November 17 - The Today Show
- December 8 - RTL Live
- December 23 - NBC TV Special
2015[]
- June 6 - Capital FM Summertime Ball
- August 4 - Good Morning America
- September 22 - Apple Music Festival
- November 12 - BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge
References[]
- ↑ Louis' tweet
- ↑ Liam's tweet
- ↑ Niall's tweet
- ↑ Harry's tweet
- ↑ Zayn's tweet
- ↑ One Direction's tweet
- ↑ One Direction Artwork tweet.
- ↑ One Direction's tweet
- ↑ One Direction's tweet
- ↑ One Direction releases preview of 'Story Of My Life' single
- ↑ One Direction's tweet
- ↑ Onedirectionmusic.com One Direction Website- Exclusive Little Things LIVE Clip
- ↑ Youtube.com Louis interview NRJ 10/25
- ↑ Yotube.com Zayn interview with The Voice (Denmark)
- ↑ Youtube.com Zayn interview 40 Principales Spain 10/25
- ↑ Youtube.com Liam BBC Radio 1 interview 10/25
- ↑ Youtube.com Niall interview on NRJ 10/25
- ↑ Youtube.com Niall on Capital FM 10/25
- ↑ Youtube.com Harry Styles Interview - Radio Mix FM (Brasil)
- ↑ Youtube.com Harry on The Hits 10/25
- ↑ Youtube.com One Direction - Story of My Life (Audio)
- ↑ Youtube.com Story of My Life Out Now!
- ↑ Twitter.com 24 hour view count revealed
- ↑ Twitter.com Miley Cyrus still holds the record