You & I

Album: Midnight Memories (2013)
Charted: 19 68
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Songfacts®:

  • This delicate us-against-the-world guitar ballad was penned for the boys by Julian Bunetta with John Ryan and Jamie Scott. It was one of nine tracks on Midnight Memories that he co-wrote. A veteran music producer on The X Factor, Bunetta has also penned songs on various soundtracks of films such as Step Up, Step Up 3D and A Cinderella Story, "The facts we knew going into the making of this album was that they were going to do a stadium tour," he told Billboard magazine, "so we wanted to make sure these songs really felt at home when you play them for that many people live as well as when you put it on in your car."
  • The song initially came about after Bunetta, Ryan and Scott were chatting about their love lives. However, it eventually came to focus on not just romantic love but also as an ode to 1D's fans. "We had this idea of, like, the references in the lyric [are about opposites]," Bunetta explained to MTV News. "When you sing 'silence and sound,' those are opposites. And 'day and night,' 'up and down'," he explained. "And we were thinking, 'OK, were they ever one thing? Before they were day and night, separate things, were they ever one relationship that wasn't [separate].' So you and I, we don't want to be separated [like that]."
  • This is one of two songs on Midnight Memories that does not bear the name of at least a single One Directioner in the credits. ("Best Song Ever" is the other one).
  • The video was directed by Ben Winston, a frequent collaborator with the boy-band who also helmed the clips for "Story of My Life," "Best Song Ever" and their concert film This is Us. The visual opens with Niall walking toward the camera on the Clevedon Pier in South West England. He turns into Liam, who then turns into Harry, then Zayn, then Louis then back to Harry. The five guys finally all meet up towards the end of the shot.
  • The clip won Best Video at the 2015 Brit Awards.

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