To the delight of thousands of girls around the world, One Direction released its third album, Midnight Memories, on Nov. 25. The album features 18 songs in its deluxe edition and the two previously released songs, “Best Song Ever” and “Story of My Life,” were met with mostly positive reviews.

The album is not amazing. Certain songs are irritating after a few listens because of a melodramatic moany tone that was popular in the late nineties and early 2000’s with boy bands like The Backstreet Boys. On a positive note, one significant change in Midnight Memories are more rock tones to the songs. There is a heavier influence of guitar and drums for a harder sound.

However, there is much to appreciate in “The Story of My Life” because it is sentimental, as opposed to some recycled pop tunes the boys produce. The song “Happily” has a very bubblegum pop sound, but it is lovable anyway because of the beat. One song in particular, “Little White Lies” can drive one insane because the melody sounds copied, like it’s a different artist’s work. The last time I felt this way, my suspicions were accurate; on the previous album, One Direction had a song titled “They Don’t Know About Us” and it turned out that the song sounded like *NSYNC’s “It’s Gonna Be Me.”

The thing about One Direction is that they are not truly listened to because of their amazing voices. Thousands of girls enjoy listening to these songs because they connect the voices with the charm and sex appeal of the boys, as opposed to appreciating the technical aspects of their voices, like fans of Adele or Andrea Bocelli would. In all honesty, only three of the boys have voices worthy of solos, and it’s painfully obvious. Zayn, Harry and Liam have the most solos on all three of One Direction’s albums because their voices are the fullest, with the most range. Louis’s voice sounds strained the majority of the time he is singing, like there is tension in his throat.

If you are looking for a pop album with both acoustic song with a slower tempo, and faster more rock type songs with drums and five attractive young guys to top it off, then this is the perfect album. I highly recommend it to those who like artists like The Wanted, and UK band Little Mix. Do not purchase the entire album, but pick which songs that stand out the most, and listen to those. Despite all the charm of the boys, the majority of the songs sound similar.