The lovable lads Liam, Zayn, Niall, Harry and Louis are soon to kick off their third stadium concert tour, titled Where We Are: Shoulder to Shoulder with the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. While the political turn has pop industry luminaries stunned, the boys at One Direction have hit back at claims this radical shift is unexpected.

In an interview with MTV last night, 20 year old Zayn passionately defended the thoughtfulness behind their first album, Up All Night. He said “We saw what people like Bieber and Rihanna were doing, and we didn’t think they were properly making the case that sometimes it’s fun to stay up all night.” Referring to another hit single from the first album, “One Thing”, Harry said: “I didn’t know exactly what she had, but I knew I wanted this one special thing. It turned out to be Chlamydia, and I didn’t want it after all”.

The five former X factor contestants said that signposts to the politically charged content of the third album were littered throughout the second album, Take Me Home. Niall stated “The seeds for engaging with social justice issues were clearly there in songs like “Live While We’re Young”. In it I implore Anne Frank to “let me sneak you out” to have one night of craziness before she’s shipped off to Bergen-Belsen. I thought about calling it “Live Just Before You Die” but our PR reps thought it might not sell”.

Louis commented: “And songs like “Little Things” were just plainly misunderstood. Most people took that to be a pretty banal commentary on loving girls because of their imperfections, not in spite of them. In fact it wasn’t even addressed to a girl. I wrote that while staring at a portrait of Latin America’s liberation hero Simón Bolívar. Some people love Bolívar for leading Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia to independence. Not me, I loved him for his eye crinkles, stomach, thighs and back dimples”.

If only you saw his back dimples.  Swoon. Portrait de Simon Bolivar by Renaud Camus/cc — If only you saw his back dimples. Swoon. Portrait de Simon Bolivar by Renaud Camus/cc

Upon hearing that Where We Are would focus on the Zapatistas’ revolutionary struggle in the Chiapas region of Mexico, 11 year old primary school student Stacey Chapman said: “They’re so hot they could sing cover versions of The Nazi Songbook for all I care.” Sources close to the young superstars confirm the next album will indeed have a Nazi twist, with the Horst-Wessel Lied and Es Zittern Die Morschen Knochen tipped to be the hottest hits next summer.