"Strong" is a song by English-Irish boy band
One Direction
One Direction, often shortened to 1D, are an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group are composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik until his departure from the gr ...
, taken from their third studio album ''
Midnight Memories
''Midnight Memories'' is the third studio album by English-Irish boy band One Direction, released on 25 November 2013 by Columbia Records, Syco Music and Sony Music. It was described as having a "slightly rockier tone" than their previous effort ...
'' (2013). It was released on 20 November 2013. It reached number one in New Zealand, number 15 in Austria and number 44 in Canada. It was written by Julian Bunetta,
John Ryan,
Jamie Scott
Jamie Scott (born James Christopher Needle; 12 February 1984) is an Ivor Novello Award winning English singer, songwriter and producer.
Career Songwriting
As a writer and producer Scott has sold over 100 million albums, 50 million singles, has ...
, and
Louis Tomlinson
Louis William Tomlinson (; born Louis Troy Austin; 24 December 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction. Tomlinson began his career appearing in television dramas before he auditioned ...
.
Background and release
"Strong" was written by
Louis Tomlinson
Louis William Tomlinson (; born Louis Troy Austin; 24 December 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction. Tomlinson began his career appearing in television dramas before he auditioned ...
,
John Ryan,
Jamie Scott
Jamie Scott (born James Christopher Needle; 12 February 1984) is an Ivor Novello Award winning English singer, songwriter and producer.
Career Songwriting
As a writer and producer Scott has sold over 100 million albums, 50 million singles, has ...
and Julian Bunetta. In an interview with ''
MTV News
MTV News is the news production division of MTV. The service is available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network. In February 2016, MTV Networks confirmed it would refresh the MTV News brand in 2016, to compete with the likes ...
'', Bunetta said, "We got into this discussion about how when you tell someone like 'I need you, I love you and I need you 'cause you make me strong,' essentially you can scare someone off. It's pressure, so people just kind of run from it. So, that's what the lyric is," recalled Bunetta, who also helped produce songs on the album. "It's saying 'I'm sorry if I say this, but fuck it. And obviously Louis' been in a relationship
ith Eleanor Calderfor a long time. It was just sort of a thing that I think all guys feel, having to uphold a man 'I'm strong' philosophy, and kind of throwing that idea out the window."
On 18 November, "Strong" was one of three tracks, along with "
Diana" and "
Midnight Memories
''Midnight Memories'' is the third studio album by English-Irish boy band One Direction, released on 25 November 2013 by Columbia Records, Syco Music and Sony Music. It was described as having a "slightly rockier tone" than their previous effort ...
", to be released ahead of the album, which was released the following week.
Reception
Michael Cragg of the ''
Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...
'' gave "Strong" four out of five stars and wrote: ""My hands, your hands tied up like two ships" sings
Zayn to open Strong. I don't think it's about nautical bondage mind you, but more about love and feeling safe with someone that's your soulmate etc. etc. and so on. Again, it's upbeat but quite 'mature', and certainly less teenage than What Makes Your Beautiful. This isn't about a quick fumble, more a recently announced engagement. It's also ridiculously catchy."
Writing for ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'', Chris Payne called the song "a love song in the earnest, mid-tempo vein of previous track "Don't Forget Where You Belong." It's the sort of song plenty of boy bands and well-meaning soft rockers have pulled off before...."
Chart performance
The song reached number one on the
Official New Zealand Music Chart
The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Musi ...
, making it One Direction's third number one in New Zealand, after "
Live While We're Young
"Live While We're Young" is a song by English-Irish boy band One Direction, released as the lead single from their second studio album, '' Take Me Home'' (2012). Written by Savan Kotecha and its producers, Rami Yacoub and Carl Falk, the number w ...
" (2012) and "
Story of My Life".
It also charted at number 48 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
,
number 87 in the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 44 on the
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...
.
Charts
See also
*
List of number-one singles from the 2010s (New Zealand)
This is the Recorded Music NZ list of number-one singles in New Zealand during the 2010s decade, starting from Monday 4 January 2010. From 7 November 2014, the chart also included data from audio on demand streaming services.
Chart
Key
: – Nu ...
References
{{One Direction
2013 songs
One Direction songs
Songs written by Jamie Scott
Syco Music singles
Columbia Records singles
Songs written by Julian Bunetta
Songs written by John Ryan (musician)
Songs written by Louis Tomlinson