- I'm not gonna give away, but there was some really big,
emotional parts in the video.
- And if you end up doing a space video now
with somebody else,
I'm gonna be so annoyed.
I better get invited.
- We'll just do the video, and then--
- (laughing)
- For our personal use. (laughing)
- Hey man, how's lockdown been?
How's Los Angeles?
- It's been great, no.
I mean, it's been weird like everyone else,
staying isolated, but it's sunny here.
I'm actually sitting outdoors, so.
How's it in London?
- It is 10 PM here, it has been raining all day,
but yeah lockdown's been kind of OK.
This is like the second month of it for me now,
so it's been quite a long time for being inside,
but handling it well and it's going good so, yeah.
We have our song "Midnight," how has the release been
different for you to other singles?
Obviously, one thing changing is lockdown
and obviously, the other part, being with me?
- I mean, it's been definitely one of the
easiest records to launch cause, you know, I think
both our teams are so professional and we've been doing this
now for quite some time.
And even though we've been like, struggling
with figuring out how to release music videos,
we've managed to fix those things.
We've just been staying busy and just working on the song
and having a good time, you know.
- Yeah man. How did you initially start writing the song?
- The writers, they send it to me.
They had the idea "Midnight,"
and I jumped on and started producing the whole song.
When we had like, a good version of it,
we were like, now we need to make sure we find a great
singer for this.
We got you right away and we were like, oh (bleep) excited
and it just came out naturally, really.
And then you, you know, you came to Sweden, as you remember,
and then we finished it.
- Just hearing the song on first listen like,
sometimes it takes a little bit to get used to the song,
but with this one it wasn't like that.
Like, I knew it was a great song as soon as I heard it
and its just, you know, all part of that
big beautiful chorus, really.
And then knowing how good Alesso is as well,
it was just great to get involved
and, you know, I think that's been the nicest thing
out of this, was us getting in the studio together
and actually going to Sweden together for the day.
And recording together made it a lot better
than just us doing it over email,
so I think it went better that way.
- Yeah, I was gonna ask,
how difficult was it for you to record the music video,
'cause you shot it at your place in London, right?
- It was a lot of fun actually,
it was difficult in parts, trying to get the camera
to move in certain ways and trying to find out what was
interesting in your house to look at.
But, the rest of it was actually quite simple, I mean--
Well I was just very lucky to have someone
who could handle the camera
and so were you at that point, really I think,
and that was the best thing about it.
Small crew, not many people telling me how to perform
and stuff, so it was like a leisurely activity
rather than being a work day.
How did you find shooting the video?
- It was a pretty mutual experience.
I shot it in the studio, I work from here in L.A.
and it was just me and the camera guy.
It was nice to hear the song through big speakers again so,
I was really vibing hard in those clips,
I was really feeling it.
- (laughing)
So, obviously we had a really big video planned
and I only saw-- I did the fitting for the video
for the clothes, and I know it involved something
to do with space. I had like a racing car driver suit
that was like, doubling as a space suit.
So, what was like, the original video idea?
Because I didn't actually get it explained to me.
- It was this whole idea about saving Earth
and going to space.
This song, it's a big chorus, a big moment in this song,
so I wanted something to feel as big as the chorus.
So, I saw this visual experience where we're out in space
and we're floating into you know the whole--
- Atmosphere.
- Atmosphere, 'cause the song is kinda like,
you feel like you're floating a little bit.
Then you have this like, big stab chorus,
so it's a big journey, the whole record itself.
As much as we love doing those videos,
it was also really nice and refreshing
to do a very stripped down music video like we did now,
where the song and the situation we're in right now
is in focus. We wanted to spread the message of
staying home and
I think, you know, the song is so good,
it doesn't need like, a big music video really.
Do you think we will actually shoot the music video
at some point or what do you think?
- Um, I don't know. I think now that we made the video
that we did, I think it kinda fits perfectly to
what this song is.
And I also think, you know, releasing in this time,
it kinda gave the song a second meaning,
and, you know, the song lyrics being about that adversity
you know, that coming adversity in a relationship.
I just kinda think it fits now
and I think its a time that, you know,
we'll always remember.
- The One Direction ten-year anniversary is coming up.
Is there anything you miss about those days
and are you hiring a new member?
- We're actually hiring you I heard,
was the rumor on the street.
We need a semi-longer haired member now that Harry cut his.
The ten-year anniversary coming up obviously
is a huge deal for all of us,
and obviously being 26 and having 10 years of anything is
the craziest thing ever.
What do I miss the most about those days?
I'd say the tour bus. Being on stage with the boys
and everything was a completely different animal,
but those little times that were only for you guys
were the best times ever.
- Who would you say is the most excited about
possible reunion?
- I actually think we match each other for excitement.
Like, where we left off with the band,
you know, we just finished an album
and we didn't get to tour it.
So, obviously there's always been that little bit that's
been missing from it.
Like, everyone I've spoken to,
you know, we always get onto the topic of the reunion
at some point.
So, it's not like
anyone's trying to like, dodge the question
or anything like that. It's just a matter of when.