"
Live While We're Young" is a song by English-Irish
boy band One Direction, released as the lead single from their second studio album
Take Me Home (2012). Written by
Rami Yacoub,
Carl Falk and
Savan Kotecha and produced by Yacoub and Falk, it was released by
Syco Records on 28 September 2012. Falk, Kotecha, and Yacoub had collaboratively helmed One Direction's previous hits, "
What Makes You Beautiful" and "
One Thing". The track is an uptempo, upbeat
pop rock song which includes elements of
dance pop and
bubblegum pop. The song utilizes
rock undertones, vocal harmonies,
hand claps, prominent
electric guitar riffs, and repetitive
synthesizers.
The song received mixed reviews from
music critics. While it faced criticism for its opening guitar riff bearing similarities with
The Clash's 1982 single "
Should I Stay or Should I Go",
critics who favoured the song cited its omnipresence and resemblance of
happiness. Additionally, the song's lyrics were negatively received by
several critics, interpreted as a thinly veiled euphemism for
sexual intercourse.
A commercial success, the song became a top ten hit in fifteen
countries, while reaching the top of the charts in New Zealand and
Ireland. In the United States, "Live While We're Young" debuted at
number 3 on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking the second-highest bow among all UK acts, outpaced only by
Elton John's number 1 arrival with "
Candle in the Wind 1997" and recorded the highest one-week opening sales figure for a song by a non-US artist.
Following an unauthorized
internet leak, the song's accompanying
music video was officially released on 20 September 2012, four days earlier than the intended release date. It was directed by
Vaughan Arnell
and depicts a camping, water festival theme, with the group's
activities considered "scampering". The music video was generally well
received by critics, many of whom commended its carefree and abrasive
nature. Upon release, it broke the
Vevo record for having the most views in a 24-hour period with 8.24 million, beating the previous record which had been set by
Justin Bieber's "
Boyfriend" (8.00 million). Bieber subsequently regained the record with his music video for "
Beauty and a Beat" (10.6 million).
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