The Meaning Behind One Direction’s Nostalgic “Night Changes”

One Direction called their fourth studio album Four. But the 2014 release also marked the end of the road (vintage boy band reference) for Zayn Malik.

For the next album, the quintet recorded as a quartet. It’s fitting for “Night Changes” to be the final One Direction single to feature Malik. He quit at 22 and later explained to radio host Zane Lowe, “I never really wanted to be there, like in the band.” He added, “I just needed time to breathe.”

“Night Changes” describes a different kind of evolution. One that doesn’t require membership in one of the biggest-selling boy bands in history.

Heading For Something

Liam Payne and Malik sing the opening verse. A mother sees her daughter growing up too fast. Maybe she doesn’t like what the dress is “showing off,” but it probably has more to do with nostalgia and how parents always see their children as children—regardless of their age.

Going out tonight changes into something red
Her mother doesn’t like that kind of dress
Everything she never had, she’s showing off
Driving too fast, moon is breaking through her hair
She’s heading for something that she won’t forget
Having no regrets is all that she really wants

Changes occurring in one night are a metaphor for the accumulating changes in life. You don’t notice you’ve gotten older until enough time passes to show the wear and tear of joy, heartbreak, anxiety, and awkward yet tender entanglements.

We’re only getting older, baby
And I’ve been thinking about it lately
Does it ever drive you crazy
Just how fast the night changes?
Everything that you’ve ever dreamed of
Disappearing when you wake up
But there’s nothing to be afraid of
Even when the night changes
It will never change me and you

Five Bad Dates

One Direction—Payne, Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson—wrote “Night Changes” with the band’s producers Jamie Scott, Julian Bunetta, and John Ryan.

The music video follows five dates with each member of the group. However, the dates all go horribly wrong. Malik has a plate of spaghetti dumped on him, Payne vomits at a fair, Horan catches on fire, Tomlinson gets arrested, and Styles bites it on an ice rink.

Growing up is messy. The boys sing a coming-of-age ballad about letting go, heart-pounding young love, cigarettes, and moonlit skin. Yet most often one trips over the threshold into adulthood.

Chasing her tonight, doubts are running round her head
He’s waiting, hides behind a cigarette
Heart is beating loud, and she doesn’t want it to stop
Moving too fast, moon is lighting up her skin
She’s falling, doesn’t even know it yet
Having no regrets is all that she really wants

Days of Our Lives

“Night Changes” wistfully looks at how quickly time passes. Though the song’s glossy production gives the whole thing a Lifetime movie vibe, the point-of-view music video offers something closer to reality.

Its slapstick treatment seems over the top until you’ve experienced the bubbling anxiety of romance and fading youth.

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Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images