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If you were anywhere near Rockefeller Center in the past couple of days you likely couldn't help but encounter the force of nature that is One Direction mania. Particularly rabid fans of the dreamy British boy band had been camping out for days in preparation for their performance on the Today show this morning, and while you might have been lucky enough to merely skirt the crowd on the way to where you needed to be, what if you had to actually deal with one of these hopelessly devoted creatures face-to-face? Well you just might have to next week. In case you've got some 1D-crazed niece (or nephew) or sister (or brother) waiting for you when you go home for the holidays, we've got some handy talking points for you that ought to earn their respect. The gents have a new album called Take Me Home, just released in the U.S. today, and for, uh, your benefit, we've listened to the whole sugary thing. Here's what you can say about five of the most important tracks to impress the Larry Stylinson 'shipper in your life.
Track: "Live While We're Young"
What to say: Oh! The album's first track? Starts off with a bang, doesn't it? Well, it's such a fun party anthem, and it's a little edgy, isn't it? (For the 1D lads, anyway. No one is getting "higher than the Empire State" as in Fun.'s "We Are Young" and in most cases anything is classier than Ke$ha, who half-raps through "Die Young.")
What the critics say: Chris Richards of the Washington Post wrote that the song "is a battle cry for the YOLO generation, a giddy ode to seizing the day and 'doing what we do, just pretending that we’re cool.' Catch that? They’re just pretending that they’re cool, exuding a sly self-awareness that actually makes them seem wise and, in turn, pretty cool."