One Direction released their fifth album, Made In The A.M.

After five years, four albums and the loss of member Zayn Malik, the lads of One Direction return with a change in sound.

As an avid One Direction fan of three years, I was more than excited for the release of Made In The A.M., the band’s fifth album. The album came out on Nov. 15 and immediately landed at number two on U.S. Billboard 200 charts.

Although I was skeptical about the album after the tumultuous year that the band had in 2015, it certainly did not disappoint.

I have only been a fan of the English-Irish boy band for three of their five years together, so I’d like to believe that I have unbiased judgement when it comes to their music. Not only was I not a fan, previously I also despised them because I had only known about their shameful boy band reputation. Once I opened up my mind and gave their third album Midnight Memories, a chance, I was hooked.

All of the group’s past albums have been heavily pop oriented, but this one has a very different rock sound. Some of the songs even have an indie sound, such as “What A Feeling,” “Olivia” and “Wolves.” The whole record feels much more grown-up than the group’s previous efforts, since it’s taken a turn from its usual mainstream sound, while still keeping the band’s fun underlying tones. One of my favorite parts about Made In The A.M. was that I could hear the transformation of how each of “The Boys” grew musically. Their voices matured, their lyrics matured and their sound matured.

Almost each song on the album took an exciting turn for me. I was prepared to hear the usual, pop, feel-good songs. Instead I heard songs with real meaning and cool breakdowns. A lot of the songs have unexpected twists toward the end. For example, “Olivia” plays off of the lyrics in “Pure Imagination” by Fiona Apple. “Long Way Down” has a melody that builds, making you think there’s going to be a heavy instrumental during the chorus, but instead the melody drops off and paints a picture in my head of feathers floating.

There were a few things that I didn’t like about this album, though. Firstly, I didn’t like the singles as much as I liked the other tracks. I felt like the singles were trying a lot harder than the other songs on the album to stand out. Although they are fun, they took me a while to get used to. Secondly, I couldn’t help but wonder what the album would’ve been like if the group had not lost Zayn Malik back in March.

After One Direction announced an extended and well deserved hiatus in 2016, rumors of the band breaking up started to fly. If these rumors end up being true, this album is the perfect note to end on.