Shrinking violets of the pop scene One Direction shocked the world to the sound of a million swoons upon the release of the lyric video for their new single 'Little Things'. And in a completely unexpected turn of events, the second single from their second album strips back the tuneless walls of sound and multi-layered vocals that made them sound like the posterboys for Jim Steinman's perverse dreams of starring in Glee, and instead we see a barely-there guitar backing to some overly-observed and fairly superficial trivialities about a loved one's image. Oh be sure of it, whilst we see the usual teenybopper antics subsided in favour of 'maturity' and simplicity, they're still just as annoying as before. You can also be sure, that there is very little to this song musically, all the focus is one the lyrics for this one - it's very clear from the minute you hear the first line. And so examining the lyrics a little further, the boys at least say all the right things in all the right ways, if you are in fact deeply self-centered and vain about your not-so-insecure insecurities.

That isn't to say though, that up until you realise this is a song written by Ed Sheeran it isn't a promising change of direction for them. The melodic structure is evenly balanced, the musical phrasing fits the song well, the guitar refrain is stupidly simple and the stripped-back appeal will send a million of their fans squealing as if the song serves some sort of proof of musical diversity. Once Ed Sheeran is added to the mix you begin to realise 'Little Things' really isn't that special at all, and the twee simpering from the boys on lines like "You can't go to bed without a cup of tea/And maybe that's the reason that you talk in your sleep", reek of Sheeran's unassuming balladry and generally underlines how little sense his lyrics make, with almost no cohesion carried between those two lines. The chorus is similarly hopeless: "I won't let these little things slip out my mouth/But if I do/It's you, it's you they add up to", which gives the impression they're just a touch incompetent or avoiding the topic altogether by dowsing more declarations of perfection onto their beloved. It sounds exactly like that grisly Match.com advert in which a berk with an acoustic guitar in a dinky little music shop woos a berkette over their mutual love of The Godfather Part III, or that one with the guy and his ukulele and the girl who wasn't a natural blonde. So instead of any real progressive impulse giving a suggestive wink at the plausibility of One Direction ever branching away from the style of music that fattens out trite melodies with cacophonous, tuneless guitars, we've got a thoroughly unspectacular affair combining the most gently disappointing toils and insipidly pleasant lyrics of Sheeran and the aimless, wandering ambition of a group of boys who appear to initially make 'Little Things' fairly listenable purely because of who they are and how different it is to their usual fanfare.

Upon waking up to the fact it's just one dweeb helping out five others, the reality of the fallacy of the lyrics becomes apparent. The lyrics mean nothing, and will probably retreat to the unconscious the minute they're wheezed over by the next line. There's a touching sentiment, be sure, but unless your part of the minute demographic this is aimed at, you're going to see straight through the act and simply wince at the thought of someone "joining up the dots with the freckles on your cheek".