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One Direction On GRAMMY Camp — SoundCheck And Their First U.S. Tour

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THE GRAMMYs
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 3:22 pm

By Liam Payne

Hey everyone! We had a fantastic time at the GRAMMY Camp — SoundCheck in San Diego. This is our first time touring the United States and it's really great to to be involved with the GRAMMY Foundation's GRAMMY Camp — SoundCheck program. As for all of us in the band, this is something we never expected.

It's been great on the road so far and we have been able to visit so many exciting places and it's so great to be able to bring our tour here and perform to thousands of people. I think my favorite part on tour so far was when we stopped in Toronto and performed for 16,000 people. It was a huge indoor/outdoor space that was backed by a big lawn. It was amazing to see so many people having fun, and hearing them sing along with our songs was fantastic experience!

Another great city was Las Vegas. It really fascinated me. It's just so surreal to see all the huge buildings out there in the desert. Unfortunately, we are too young to go out, but hopefully in a few years we will come back and really experience the city.

One piece of advice I would give to anyone who wants to sing and perform is just go with it. You never really know what could happen until you give it a shot. Before all of this I never expected to hear my voice on a song on the radio, let alone be touring America, so you really should just try. Also, don't take it all too seriously. The reason I wanted to be a singer was to enjoy what I call "work" and have fun all the time, so never stop enjoying music.

UK pop band One Direction recently participated in a GRAMMY Camp — SoundCheck in San Diego. A GRAMMY Foundation GRAMMY in the Schools initiative, GRAMMY Camp — SoundCheck programs provide high school and college students a glimpse into the realities of music careers by offering them the opportunity to experience a soundcheck rehearsal with a recording artist, followed by an interactive and candid question-and-answer session. Following the soundcheck, One Direction's Liam Payne collected his thoughts on the experience and the band's current U.S. tour.

Formed in 2010 after individually appearing on the UK's "The X Factor," One Direction features Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson. The group finished third on the show and were subsequently signed to Simon Cowell's Syco record label. The group released their first single, "What Makes You Beautiful," in 2011. Released in 2012, their first album, Up All Night, debuted atop the Billboard 200, making One Direction the first British band to have a debut album enter the chart at No. 1.

SHAED

 SHAED

Photo: Andrew Lee

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Up Close & Personal: SHAED Talk New Music, Allyship & Collabs With ZAYN, Sting & Steve Aoki

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The "Melt" band reveal how fun it was working with Sting and Steve Aoki on the dance producer's 2019's track "2 In A Million"
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Sep 22, 2020 - 12:27 pm

Alt-pop trio SHAED consisting of twin brothers Max and Spencer Ernst and Chelsea Lee (who is married to Spencer), had their big break in summer 2018 with their infectious hit "Trampoline." It was followed by a whirlwind 2019, where they played major festivals and shows around the world and dropped some big collabs, including a ZAYN remix of "Trampoline," whose vocals brought new life—and his massive fan base—to it.

Like so many other artists, COVID-19 put a sudden halt on their packed, globe-trotting schedule. The pause and new perspective have proven productive for them, and resulted in a lot of new, yet-to-be-released music.

"We had a group of songs before this whole quarantine situation and we kind of took a deep listen and realized that we wanted to change it up a bit," Chelsea told us. "Most of the songs we've written for this album, we wrote during these crazy months, so it definitely reflects, emotionally and mentally, what we were feeling. These songs really hit home for us and we're super excited to release them."

SHAED On New Music, Allyship & Collabs

Read: Aminé Talks New Album 'Limbo,' Portland Protests And Black Lives Matter

We catch up with the Washington D.C.-based group for the latest episode of GRAMMY.com Up Close & Personal interview video series to learn what they've been up to during quarantine—in addition to creating a new album, they've also protesting with local Black Lives Matter marches and been relaxing in their backyard.

Sharing what he learned about being an ally to the Black community, Max said, "I think it's important to listen. There's all these kind of sub-movements within the Black Lives Matter movement that are really important. Black Trans lives Matter, is super important… I think it's important that all these communities within Black Lives Matter, their voices are being elevated."

The "Melt" band also reveal how fun it was like working with Sting and Steve Aoki on the dance producer's 2019's track "2 In A Million." Watch the full conversation above!

"Chelsea loves Sting," Spencer said, smiling. "Steve Aoki is a fan of ours, and he reached out and said he'd love for us to feature on a song. So we were listening to some demos and trying to figure out which one made sense. And then he said, 'Hey, actually hold on, I got a song with Sting.' And that's when Chelsea was like 'We're doing this right away!'"

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Remembered By Barack Obama, Janet Mock, Jennifer Lopez, Elton John & More

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Harry Styles

Harry Styles 

Photo: Will Heath/NBC/Getty Images

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Harry Styles' 'Fine Line' Debuts At No. 1 With The 3rd Biggest Week For A 2019 Album

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With a huge first week for his anticipated sophomore solo album, the pop powerhouse has landed his second No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200, with the biggest male pop release in four years
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Dec 23, 2019 - 12:56 pm

Billboard's latest chart data reveals British pop act Harry Styles' sophomore album Fine Line has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, its all-genre album chart. This marks the former One Direction bandmember's second No. 1 album (out of two to date) as a solo artist and sixth overall, as the popular boy band saw four No. 1 album releases (out of five LPs) in their time together.

Billboard highlights the massiveness of Fine Line's first week, noting, at 478,000 units, it has had the third-biggest album week of 2019, only following Taylor Swift's currently GRAMMY-nominated Lover (869,000 units on the Sept. 7 chart) and Post Malone's Hollywood's Bleeding (489,000 units on the Sept. 21 chart). Additionally, just one week in, it is already the sixth-best selling album of 2019. The data was revealed by Billboard yesterday, Dec. 20, for its forthcoming Dec. 28 Billboard 200 chart.

Related: Billboard 200 Album Chart To Count Video Plays From Streaming Services Starting In 2020

In the first week since its release on Dec. 13, Fine Line sold 393,000 albums (including CDs, vinyl and digital downloads, including concert ticket and merchandise bundles) and racked up 108.7 million on-demand audio streams among its 12 tracks, which equals 83,000 Streaming Equivalent Units. The impressive 478,000 album units is rounded out by 3,000 Track Equivalent Album sales, meaning 30,000 tracks from the albums were downloaded during its first week.

The album follows Styles' self-titled 2017 solo debut album, which also debuted at No. 1 with 230,000 equivalent album sales in its first week. Now, with his anticipated sophomore follow up, the pop powerhouse has not only landed his second No. 1 solo debut, but he's also seen the best week for male pop release, only behind Justin Bieber's Purpose in 2015. It is also the biggest week ever for a U.K. male solo artist since Nielsen began tracking sales electronically back in 1991.

The big achievement for Styles' follows a busy schedule filled with appearances on Saturday Night Live, The Late Late Show With James Corden and BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge and surprise shows in London in Los Angeles. For BBC, he performed two Fine Line's "Adore You" and "Lights Up," as well as a Lizzo-approved cover of "Juice" and a cheerful rendition of Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime," both of which you can peep below.

 

He will kick off his Love On Tour 2020 in the spring, with King Princess opening in Europe, Jenny Lewis supporting the U.S. and Canada dates and current GRAMMY nominee Koffee joining in Mexico. You can check out his website to see if tickets are still available near you.

Alicia Keys & Splice Launch "Time Machine" Remix Contest For Chance At Official Release, Two GRAMMY Tickets & More

Niall Horan

Niall Horan

Interview

Niall Horan Talks "Too Much To Ask," Maren Morris Duet & Harry Styles

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The One Direction alum talks his debut solo album, 'Flicker,' the genesis of the songs "Too Much To Ask" and "Seeing Blind," and what he misses most about his former group
Tim McPhate
GRAMMYs
Oct 12, 2017 - 10:25 am

These are exciting times for Niall Horan.

Niall Horan on "Seeing Blind" With Maren Morris

The One Direction alumnus is readying his debut studio album, Flicker, for release on Oct. 20. Featuring collaborations with producer/songwriter Greg Kurstin, the LP has been preceded by a trio of singles, including "Too Much To Ask" and "This Town," which in Horan's words, gives fans an "idea of where I'm headed."

In the meantime, he has plotted a 2018 world tour in support of Flicker with GRAMMY winner Maren Morris, who coincidentally joins Horan on a duet for the track "Seeing Blind" on his album.

In this exclusive interview, the Irish singer/songwriter opens up about the biggest hurdle he overcame with his debut album, how "Too Much To Ask" and "Seeing Blind" materialized, what he thinks of Harry Styles' debut album, and what he misses the most about his days in 1D.

What was the biggest challenge you encountered with making your first solo album?

Trying to get people to bring the songs to life in the way that I pictured them. Explaining it to people was obviously harder than I thought. I wanted to make the album with a live band; that was a big thing for me. I had some people that I really wanted to [collaborate] with and with the help of my A&R I got the chance to work with some great people. But I think, initially for me, [the biggest challenge was] trying to get people to understand how I wanted it to sound.

 

What was the inspiration for the single "Too Much To Ask"?

There's obviously a lot of autobiographical stuff. And it was kind of from the heart. It actually took me probably three or four [tries] at it to actually write the song. It had been a line here or there for a while, and musically it wasn't really coming together. And one day I just sat down at the piano with a friend of mine [Jamie Scott] and sometimes you just need a second mind to bring [a song] to life. And he helped big time. Actually, I wrote "This Town" with him as well. Musically, we work well together. It's another special song for me and, with the three songs that I've released, it's kind of starting to sum up the album. I think people are starting to get the idea of where I'm headed.

What was it about Maren Morris that led you to want to collaborate with her on the track "Seeing Blind"?

With "Seeing Blind," I had written the song with a friend of mine, who is a female singer as well. And literally after the first couple of lines I was like, "This has to be a duet." She sung on the demo and then I was like, "Alright, I want to find someone to sing on this." I was going through the motions in my head and picking people out ... I really wanted the song to come to life because it was another personal one to me. … I had heard a lot about Maren and she was making a lot of noise clearly with her album. And I watched the GRAMMYs, she performs with Alicia Keys, she wins a GRAMMY. I'm like, "That is right up my street there." I literally don't know how I didn't think of it before. This song is kind of country based so it makes sense.

I got her email address and sent her the song. We'd never met before or anything. I was like, "Listen, no pressure. If you don't want to do it, it's completely fine. But just let me know what you think." And she was like, "Yeah, it's right up my street." So she recorded it. And we've met a couple of times, now that I've been to Nashville. She's great and I look forward to hopefully performing with her — she's coming on tour with me next year. I'm sure we'll be onstage every night singing it. I can't wait.

You worked with GRAMMY winner Greg Kurstin on the album. What did you learn from collaborating with him?

First of all, I couldn't believe I got in the door with Greg. He just finished the Foo Fighters record. And he's worked with Paul McCartney and Beck and me. I'm like, "Are you for real?" Even just to spend 20 minutes talking to him would have been enough for me. I just think the guy is a musical genius, watching him in action. To meet Greg, you wouldn't even think he worked in music. He's very calm — you know, everyone in music seems to be mad. But he's very calm, collected, goes about his business. He can play every instrument under the sun.

I wrote a song called "Since We're Alone" for my album and I was leaving the studio at 5 p.m. and it was like 10 minutes to 5. I'd been doing a session there all day with another writer and I didn't feel like it was going anywhere or whatever. And Greg sat down at the piano and he started playing these few chords. I said, "Greg, could you just put the mic on? I'll go in there and just let me sing over what you're playing." And I just started mumbling stuff, random melodies and within four or five hours Greg had created a full-on track, played every instrument and just sent me all the best bits of what he thought were good melodies. And off the back of those melodies, it's a song on my album.

I don't know anyone that could curate just me mumbling — it was incredible to be in touch with that. He produced "Too Much To Ask," he's produced "This Town" and he produced "Since We're Alone." So I worked with him on a few songs on the record and it's just been an amazing experience.

Harry Styles released his first solo album in May. Have you had a chance to chat with Harry and compare first-album notes?

Harry's album is great. … Harry [and I] would have — out of all the boys — the closest taste in music. We would always be passing around different bands that we found or just share old classics together. So I'd say that, just in general, we would be fans of each other's music. I love Harry's rockier stuff.

One Direction is currently on a hiatus. What's the one thing you miss most about being in the band?

The day-to-day general madness of One Direction [I] miss. I guess, in a way, it's been quite calm for me. It's been quite chilled-out, a kind of normal life at some level. The whole idea of anytime we rolled into town, everyone knew we were there. It was a lot of screaming people everywhere. It was all kind of high-energy stuff. But I gave myself a year and a half, basically, to make an album and really hone in on everything music, which has been great.

Charlie Puth in 2017

Charlie Puth

Photo: Ben Gabbe/Getty Images

News

Jingle Ball 2017: One Direction, Fifth Harmony Alums Join Lineup

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Stars to join Jingle Ball in Minneapolis on Dec. 4; 12-city tour kicks off Nov. 28 in Dallas
Brian Haack
GRAMMYs
Oct 10, 2017 - 1:51 pm

Minneapolis' KDWB-FM has announced the official lineup for its annual Jingle Ball concert and holiday bash, and the slate headlining acts are sure to bring some major crowds to the Twin Cities this December.

Camila Cabello: Healing Pain Through Music

Topping the billing are past GRAMMY nominees Fall Out Boy and Charlie Puth, along with pop singer/songwriter Ke$ha. Also raising eyebrows on this year's lineup are former One Direction members Niall Horan and  Liam Payne, as well as Cuban-American singer Camila Cabello, formerly of Fifth Harmony.

A host of other stars, including Demi Lovato, Taylor Swift, Logic, and Ed Sheeran, will be bringing the holiday cheer on the 12-city Jingle Ball tour. The tour will launch Nov. 28 in Dallas and wrap Dec. 17 in Miami.

KDWB's Jingle Ball 2017 will be held oDec. 4. All Jingle Ball tickets will go on sale to the general public through Ticketmaster and local box offices starting Oct. 16.

Fifth Harmony "Deliver" On Latest Album, Talk Inspirations & Gucci Mane