A week ahead of its release date of Nov. 25, One Direction's third studio album "Midnight Memories" has leaked, and in a new interview with Digital Spy, the boyband vented their frustrations and shared their reactions with the entertainment site.
Album leaks nowadays are seemingly inevitable, especially for big name stars like Katy Perry and Lady Gaga, both of whom had their latest projects leaked ahead of schedule. Most recently, a number of 30-second previews from Britney Spear' eighth studio album, "Britney Jean," have leaked in addition to several tracks including "Brightest Morning Star" and "Alien", and while the princess star didn't seem to mind so much, certain members of One Direction were irked.
At a signing for their new book "Where We Are," Liam Payne told Digital Spy that he finds the leak "annoying because there's this big build-up and it affects sales."
"We really want a number one, so we're just kind of hoping for the best now. Hopefully people go out and buy it," he added, while Louis Tomlinson chimed in: "It's just frustrating when you work so hard on an album and you kind of want everyone to hear it at the same time."
He acknowledged that "some select fans won't listen to it until it's out, which is great. But there are others who obviously can't help themselves."
The new album features 14 tracks on the standard edition and 18 on the deluxe, the featuring writing from hitmakers like Ryan Tedder, Carl Falk, Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, and the band members themselves, all of whom co-wrote the album's second single, "Story of My Life," with Tomlinson and Payne contributing to most of the writing. Tracks that did not make the final cut include songs called "Blame It All On You" and "Whatever She Wants," which appear in the ASCAP database, and unlike their previous efforts, "Midnight Memories" includes no songwriting contributions from Ed Sheeran.
"It's just nice to have an impact. If there was an album I liked and I could listen to it a week before, I probably would," Harry Styles admitted to Digital Spy on the subject of the leak. "It's just nice to have that moment where it builds up to, 'Now it's out and everyone can listen to it.'"
Meanwhile, Payne was not as accepting of the fate of "Midnight Memories."
"It happens these days all the time. There are some very clever people out there. You're buggers!" he said.
