"Night Changes" is a song recorded by British-Irish

boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...

One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, were an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group consisted of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik (until his departure in 2015), Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson. The group sold o ...

. It was written by the band alongside

Jamie Scott James Christopher Needle (born 12 February 1984), known professionally as Jamie Scott, is an English singer, songwriter and producer. Career Songwriting As a writer and producer Scott has sold over 100 million albums, 50 million singles, has ...

Julian Bunetta Julian Collin Bunetta (born 1982 or 1983) is an American songwriter, record producer, mixing engineer, and audio engineer. A multi-instrumentalist, he is known for his work with various artists including One Direction, Niall Horan, Thomas Rhett, ...

, and John Ryan, while the production was handled by Bunetta and Ryan. The song was released on 14 November 2014 as the second and final single from their fourth studio album '' Four''. It also marked their last single with member

Zayn Malik Zain Javadd "Zayn" Malik ( ; born 12 January 1993) is an English singer-songwriter. He auditioned as a solo contestant for the British music competition television series ''The X Factor'' in 2010, where he ended up being a part of five-piece b ...

Background and release

"Night Changes" was revealed as the album's second single in an interview with radio host

Scott Mills Scott Robert Mills (born 28 March 1973) is an English radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor. He is best known for presenting the '' Scott Mills'' show on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2022 and since then, on BBC Radio 2, where he has be ...

. The track was released on 14 November 2014, three days before the album's release.

Composition and lyrics

Developing on the themes of "

Live While We're Young "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 Savan Kotecha and its producers, Rami Yacoub and Carl Falk, the numbe ...

" and " Story of My Life", the song explores the rapid passage of time, seizing the moment in life, and gaining love along the way. The harmonies in the chorus, backed by rounds of "Oohs", give the song added depth and a "big contemplative feel." The song runs for 3 minutes and 47 seconds and begins in the key of

A major A major is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The A major scale is: Changes needed for the ...

; 2 minutes and 28 seconds into the song, the key changes to

B major B major is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps. Its relative minor is G-sharp minor, its parallel minor is B minor, and its enharmonic equi ...

Music video

The official music video was released on 21 November 2014 and directed by Ben Winston. This was One Direction's last video with Zayn Malik, as he departed from the band on 25 March 2015. Liam Payne's real-life girlfriend Sophia Smith was involved in the shoot, but did not appear on-screen. The video is a

point of view Point of View or Points of View may refer to: Concept and technique * Point of view (literature) or narrative mode, the perspective of the narrative voice; the pronoun used in narration * Point of view (philosophy), an attitude how one sees or ...

of going on a date with all 5 members of One Direction. The five dates take place in five different locations: a date with Zayn Malik at a restaurant (which he appears to own as he greets some chefs and introduces his date to a waiter), a drive with Louis Tomlinson in his vintage car, a night in playing

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

and

Jenga ''Jenga'' is a Game of skill, game of physical skill created by British board game designer and author Leslie Scott (game designer), Leslie Scott and marketed by Hasbro. The name comes from the Swahili language, Swahili word "" which means 'to bu ...

with Niall Horan at his house next to a fireplace, ice skating with Harry Styles and at a funfair with Liam Payne. As their dates progress, things end up going horribly wrong for all 5 members. Zayn's date's ex-boyfriend comes in, yells at her, then dumps water and spaghetti on Zayn, which prompts the date to leave Zayn as he looks on in disbelief. Harry spots another couple doing a very complicated trick on the ice rink and attempts to do it with his date, causing both of them to fall and get injured. Liam takes his date on the Waltzer at the funfair, but becomes nauseated while on the ride and proceeds to vomit in his date's hat as they exit. Niall tends to his fireplace, but the sleeve of his shirt catches fire and he grabs a towel to put out the fire, which accidentally tips over a jug that spills the contents on his date's dress. Louis gets pulled over by the police presumably for speeding and tries to joke with the policeman to impress his date, which results in him getting arrested, and the date watches as Louis is driven away from her in the back of the police car.

Commercial performance

A moderate commercial success, the track is one of the band's most critically acclaimed, receiving praise for contemplating the fleeting nature of life with depth and maturity. As of October 2024, "Night Changes" is the most-streamed song by the band on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

, with over 2 billion streams. Following the death of

Liam Payne Liam James Payne (29 August 1993 – 16 October 2024) was an English singer and songwriter. He was a member of the pop band One Direction, one of the best-selling boy bands of all time, alongside Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, and Loui ...

in October 2024, the song saw a surge in sales and streams, rising to 6th place on

's daily global song chart, and the

Official Charts Company The Official UK Charts Company Limited (formerly Music Industry Chart Services Limited), trading as the Official Charts Company (OCC) or the Official Charts (formerly the Chart Information Network), is a British inter-professional organisation ...

showed "Night Changes" place at number 16 on the UK Midweek Singles Chart. It re-entered the UK Singles Chart Top 100, on 25 October 2024, at a new peak of number 6.

Track listing

*Digital EP #"Night Changes" – 3:40 #"Night Changes" – 3:40 #"Steal My Girl" – 3:46 *CD single #"Night Changes" – 3:40 #"Night Changes" – 3:40 *Music Video #"Night Changes" - 4:00

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2014 songs 2014 singles One Direction songs Syco Music singles Columbia Records singles Pop ballads Songs about nights Songs written by Julian Bunetta Songs written by Jamie Scott Songs written by John Ryan (musician) Songs written by Louis Tomlinson Songs written by Niall Horan Songs written by Zayn Malik Songs written by Harry Styles Songs written by Liam Payne 2010s ballads Song recordings produced by John Ryan (songwriter)