One Direction has certainly grown up from “What Makes You Beautiful”. Between failed relationships and baby daddy drama, things have changed a lot for the band since they were on the X-Factor in 2011. The climax of it was when Zayn Malik left the band on March 25. Since then, One Direction has released their first single without him “Drag Me Down.” It was definitely something new.

“Drag Me Down” has a different feel from the rest of their songs. They’ve changed a lot from their days of cheesy, catchy pop songs to more mature pop-rock sound. It had a lot of back and forth play between guitar and bass, making it a different sound for the band, although not unrecognizable. It sounds more like something that would be expected from Imagine Dragons, than the boy band the world fell in love with.

The song’s theme seems to be one of fan appreciation. It’s lyrics like, “All my life/You stood by me/When no one else was ever behind me/All these lights/They can’t blind me/With your love, nobody can drag me down.” seems especially fitting in light of Malik’s departure when fans are going to have to decide whether or not they are going to stick with this once boy band.

The song was the band’s fourth to reach number one in the UK charts, and it reached number three on Billboard’s Hot 100. As of Aug. 18, it was number 12 on the iTunes charts. One thing that seems to be certain is the band’s popularity isn’t going down anytime soon.

writer: Gabriela Gable