Etcetera OG ✎ COMPLETE

; one direction "made in the a.m." album review

                  Listen. I don't want to waste your time on an introduction here, because I feel like at this point you guys all know how I feel about this band (if anything, I'll get weepy and sappy at the end). I mean...I hate them. I don't get any sleep anymore, I'm literally always stressed out, they make me cry, they have no regard for my mental health.

                  Totally kidding. I mean, all of those things are true, but for some reason I can't get enough of them. So here I am with the review of arguably their best album to date EVEN THOUGH I HAVEN'T ACTUALLY HEARD IT UNTIL NOW (wink wink, just go with it), and if you think you know the final, overall rating I'm going to give it at the end, you're probably right. But, if you're here to find out if Made in the A.M. is for you, read on, because hopefully I'll do the tracks justice.

                  And this is a super special album review because you'll not only get to read my thoughts, but Wattpad HQ's very own @samantha and @alessandra will be chiming in with their thoughts as well. Unlike me, they'll be hearing some of these songs in high quality for the first time. But we've all been waiting for this album for what feels like an entire One Direction hiatus (too soon?), so let's get to it.

01: HEY ANGEL - 10/10

Harry originally described this song as sounding similar to "Clouds," but I'm not sure if I agree. Sure, it has that space-y, stadium-echo-y sound like "Clouds" had, but it can definitely stand on its own without that comparison. I don't even know if I'd have made it myself had Harry not said it first. Regardless, I think I speak for the entire fandom when I say that this was not what I was expecting "Hey Angel" to sound like. After Harry teased the lyrics for WEEKS, I felt like we were going to get a ballad out of it. But I'm pleasantly surprised with this, and it's still sort of sad in its own right. I know I heard a rumor somewhere that Harry wrote a song for his grandma who had passed, and if this is it, I get it. You could interpret the lyrics in a more love song kind of way, or you could interpret them the way I do (the sad way), but no matter how you look at it, you can't deny that we've got a piece of art here. Depending on the types of music you get into, if you're not a die-hard 1D fan, this might be a harder track to get into right away; give it time. It's incredible. And for your listening pleasure, do yourself a favor and pay special attention at 1:47 when Harry sings "side." You're welcome. Favorite lyrics: Hey angel / do you ever try / to come to the other side?

Sam and Alessandra's thoughts: I expected this song to be far more depressing than it actually is. It is surprisingly upbeat, pleasant, and musically interesting. Hey Angel is a beautiful, epic darling. It makes me feel like I'm soaring above the earth.

02: DRAG ME DOWN - 10/10

The song that started it all. When they dropped this one, I was at work dying of boredom (I worked 3rd shift at a tiny single-floor hotel at the time, so as you can imagine, there wasn't much to do) and trying to stay awake. I got a notification that Harry tweeted something, and it was just a freaking link, but I saw something about iTunes in the URL and I just knew. For the rest of the night I was an actual mess. Even still, when I hear this song, I'm blown away at how much their sound has matured since FOUR. It's endlessly catchy, and everyone was tweeting about it, which was so exciting. The stage had been set for the rest of Made in the A.M. and while no other track really sounds anything like "Drag Me Down," it didn't fail even a little. I also still flail in agony during Niall's verse. How can someone's vocal ability be so versatile? Favorite lyrics: I got a river for a soul / and baby you're a boat