One Direction’s Music Video for ‘Story of My Life’ Reaches One Billion Views on YouTube

Just months after turning 10 years old, One Direction‘s iconic “Story of My Life” music video has surpassed one billion views on YouTube. 

Uploaded to the platform Nov. 3, 2013, the four-minute visual stars then bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne along with real members of their families as they recreate childhood photos. In one scene, for instance, a picture of a young Styles sitting on the couch next to his mom Anne morphs into a present-day version, the pair sitting in the same position — the “As It Was” singer now several inches taller, but still in the same blue bathrobe. 

In another childhood photo, a young Tomlinson sits with his parents and grandparents. When the scene shifts to present day, he and his mom and dad visibly age — however, his grandmother and grandfather fade away altogether. 

“Written in these walls are the stories that I can’t explain/ I leave my heart open but it stays right here empty for days,” Styles sings at the beginning, the rest of the boys joining him later for the chorus. “The story of my life, I take her home/ I drive all night to keep her warm/ And time is frozen.” 

The track was released in 2013 ahead of the boy band’s third album, Midnight Memories, which debuted atop the Billboard 200 and was the group’s third of four straight No. 1 albums. It peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, one of six tracks to reach the top 10 in the band’s career before its 2016 hiatus. 

“Story of My Life” isn’t the first 1D video to join YouTube’s billion views club. The beachy visual for the band’s 2011 debut single “What Makes You Beautiful” also reached the milestone, as did 2015’s NASA-themed “Drag Me Down.” 

Watch “Story of My Life” below. 

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