The latest album of the popular British boy band One Direction, “Midnight Memories,” was released on Nov. 25. Listening to this album, it seems that One Direction has moved on from songs that show off the talent of synthesizers and sound editors more than their own contributions, to ones that show off the talent that brought them to the X-Factor.

Being a first time listener of One Direction, I was pretty sure what I would hear: the trademark signs of a boy-band, somewhat cheesy songs about teenage love along with flamboyantly edited music. About half of the album’s songs fit that description.

The album art shows the band is trying to come across as more mature, having outgrown their previous Aeropostale-style outfits. One thing I noticed on the cover art is that Niall is wearing a Wisconsin Badgers t-shirt. Not a particularly important detail, but something worth mentioning.

Like much of the band’s previous music, this album is largely about teenage love and heartbreak. The two songs that were made into music videos are “Best Song Ever” and “Story of My Life.” “Best Song Ever” is a song in the style of their previous hits, focusing more on edited voice tracks, along with techno synthesizers and drums.

“Story of My Life” is a more subdued song than some of the others on the album, and is the most popular song of the album on iTunes. It is a song that is more instrumental, having more identifiable instruments, and string instrument synthesizers.

The song for which the album is named, “Midnight Memories”, is a song done in more of a “rock” style, like others on the album. This may be the direction in which the band is going, but we will have to wait and see.

This was my first encounter with listening to an album from these artists, and I have to say I was not left with a bad taste in my mouth, or bleeding ears, when hearing their new acoustic and rock sound.