The sound of a band preparing for the big time

Take Me Home picks up where One Direction's debut album left off, all punchy pop-rock anthems (the delirious opening salvo of “Live While We’re Young” and “Kiss You”) and tender acoustic balladry (the Ed Sheeran-cowritten “Little Things” and “Over Again”). Perhaps the album's most intriguing moments, however, are the Dr. Luke-produced, Queen-referencing “Rock Me” and the plaintive “Change My Mind”—both of which hint at the band’s more mature, stadium-slaying sound that was to come.