One Direction ensured the British flag was flying high in Las Vegas over the weekend by walking away with three gongs at the Billboard Awards.

The band have enjoyed unprecedented success on both sides of the Atlantic since finding fame on The X Factor in 2010, and their enduring popularity was reflected at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the gambling mecca on Sunday (May 19).

Indeed, the five-piece walked away with gongs for Top Duo/Group, Top New Artist and Top Pop Artist, but despite getting in amongst the awards they were disappointingly absent from the event due to touring commitments with their mammoth Take me Home Tour – which is currently working its way across mainland Europe.

While One Direction claimed victory in three categories, it was American star Taylor Swift who won most of the plaudits – and prizes – on the night by walking away with an unprecedented eight awards.

Luckily for Taylor, Kanye West was nowhere in sight as she repeatedly left her seat to collect the awards, amongst them Top Billboard 100 Album, Top Female Artist, Top Country Artist, Top Country Album, Top Country Song, Billboard Artist of the Year.

Source: entertainmentwise.com

One Direction performed in Verona, Italy last night, I added 55 High Quality images to the gallery:

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Tours > “Take Me Home” Tour > Europe >May 19th – Verona, Italy

Harry Styles was spotted leaving the Byblos Night Club in Milan last night, I added 11 High Quality images to the gallery:

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Candids > 2013 > May 19th – Harry Styles out in Milan

There was amazing scenes in Verona today as hundreds of fans waited outside of the arena to try and catch a glimpse of the boys! I added 74 High Quality images to the gallery:

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Candids > 2013 > May 19th – One Direction outside of the arena in Verona

The group revealed details of the mammoth Where We Are Tour 2014 at a press conference at Wembley Stadium in north London.

And just after they caused screaming all over the globe, the boys tried on different football strips – just to make sure each fan, whatever the country – to get a glimpse of them in their national team’s colours.

First up was England of course, with Niall Horan opting for his own country’s Irish strip.

Each strip represented a nation where the boys will perform on their upcoming tours.

The group, who shot to fame on the X Factor, have become a global phenomenon since their debut single in 2011 and have sold more than 30 million records and DVDs globally and topped the charts in more than 37 countries.

The stadium tour in 2014 will include five UK and Ireland dates and eight in Latin America, according to the One Direction website.

The band will play Sunderland’s Stadium of Light on April 28, Manchester City’s Etihad stadium on April 31, Edinburgh’s Murrayfield stadium on June 3 and on June 7 they will perform at Wembley. They will play Dublin’s Croke Park on April 25.

The Latin American leg of the tour in April and May will see them visit Brazil (two concerts), Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, Chile and Uruguay.

The website said more dates would be added soon.

One Direction shot to fame after coming third in the 2010 series of the X Factor, where they lost out to singer-songwriter Matt Cardle.

But the five-piece have gone on to eclipse the eventual winner, enjoying a string of top 10 singles, recording two hit albums and are now about to release their first film, 1D3D.

The band – who said they are all big football fans – stressed that further shows on the world tour would be announced at a later date.

Horan said: ‘We’re incredibly excited to announce we’re doing a worldwide stadium tour in 2014.

‘We’re three years into it (being a band), so stepping out to an audience of 65,000 a night is incredible.’

The announcement comes in the middle of the band’s current tour, which will see them play in Switzerland tonight and Germany tomorrow.

Asked about what fans – known as Directioners – can expect next year, Styles said: ‘It’s important that the fans know it’s not the same tour going around again in stadiums.

‘We want to make the stage bigger, with new songs. It’s going to be a completely different tour and a lot of fun.’

Fellow band members Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson were also present for the announcement today, visibly excited about the prospect of playing in some of the world’s greatest stadiums.

The band also confirmed plans for a new album, following last year’s Take Me Home, to be released later this year.

They described the sound as ‘rockier’ and ‘edgy’.

Payne said: ‘It (the sound) kind of grows as we grow.’

He added: ‘We want to do this as long as we can. We can’t believe this is happening all at once, but we’re just going to go with it.

‘I’m looking around Wembley thinking ‘It’s huge – how are we going to sell out this place?’.’

However, more than a million fans are expected to rush for tickets, according to ticket marketplace Seatwave.

Although tickets don’t go on sale until May 25, the site is already recording thousands of searches from eager Directioners keen to get their hands on tickets.

Louise Mullock, spokesperson for Seatwave, told Mail Online: ‘We’re expecting one of the biggest rushes for tickets we’ve ever seen on May 25.

‘One Direction is arguably the biggest boy band ever and fans from around the world will be desperate to get their hands on a ticket to see the boys perform live.’

Source: dailymail.co.uk

The Vaccines’ Justin Young has praised One Direction’s Niall Horan and Harry Styles as “natural” songwriters after working with them on their new material.

Young recently spent time writing songs with the pair after meeting Styles and bonding with him over his love of The Cribs. Speaking to MTV News, the frontman explained how he had found working with the duo “exciting”, but also suggested it was unlikely that the boyband would be ditching their pop-friendly sound for a heavier sound despite their collaboration.

“They are both natural writers,” said Justin. “I love writing songs and love pop music, so the process was exciting. I don’t think they are going for a heavier, indie sound. Maybe it’s damaged my credibility, but it wasn’t The Vaccines who wrote for them, it was me, so I doubt it’s damaged the band’s.”

Justin Young previously defended his decision to write with One Direction during an interview with NME. Speaking about “small minded” critics, young said: “People who don’t understand why I would want to work with One Direction are old-fashioned and small-minded and tribal,” he says. “Someone asked me if we were selling out and I thought, how have I gone back on my word? At no point have we professed to be indie.”

One Direction are widely rumoured to be releasing a new album at the end of 2013. It will be their third album following the release of ‘Up All Night’ in 2011 and ‘Take Me Home’ in 2012.

Source: nme.com

Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan were pictured playing football outside of the Bercy Arena in Paris on Monday, I added 40 High Quality images to the gallery:

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Candids > 2013 > April 29th – Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan playing football outside of the Bercy Arena

Zayn Malik and Niall Horan were spotted outside of the Sportpaleis arena in Belgium yesterday, I added 9 High Quality images to the gallery:

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Candids > 2013 > Zayn Malik and Niall Horan outside of the Sportpaleis arena

Harry Styles and Niall Horan were spotted arriving at their hotel in the Belgium yesterday, I added 26 High Quality images to the gallery:

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Candids > 2013 > May 1st – Harry Styles and Niall Horan arriving at their hotel in Belgium

One Direction are working around the clock to ensure their next album is completed in time for Christmas with Louis Tomlinson revealing the lads are “shattered” after having to record the record in their hotel rooms while on their current ‘Take Me Home’ world tour.

The ‘Live While We’re Young’ hitmakers are currently on the European leg of the mammoth 120-date tour, and while they have very little time on their hands, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik have been putting in extra hours to ensure the record is out by Christmas.

Confirming that they are busy working on their third album, Louis told the Daily Star: “We’ve already started recording the album, we started about a month ago.

“We’ve been writing and recording it while on tour. We are really happy with it. We don’t want to rush it but it will be out for Christmas.”

According to the publication, the boys have set up portable recording studios in their hotel rooms as they travel across various cities and have even had creative input with the songwriting, working in pairs.

“We have the film coming out as well so we are all pretty shattered but we are all having a great time,” Louis added last week before 1D kicked off the European leg of their jaunt.

“We have had a week off this week before heading on to Europe for the tour.”

Source: entertainmentwise.com